China has unveiled a new set of emergency measures meant to clear the polluted air in the capital, Beijing, before the Olympic Games start on August 8.
State media said Thursday that if air quality is poor, Chinese authorities will bring a halt to all construction projects and close more than 200 more factories in Beijing, Tianjin, and Hebei province.
The Xinhua news agency says the emergency measures would also restrict more vehicles from the roads.
At the beginning of July, Beijing banned 300,000 heavy-polluting trucks from the roads. Last week, China banned more than a million cars from the streets of Beijing.
The International Olympic Committee has said it may postpone long-distance endurance events if air pollution is too severe.
Some information for this report was provided by AFP and AP.
