A recent survey has revealed that a staggering 75 per cent of families in the Delhi NCR region, which is grappling with deteriorating air quality, have at least one member suffering from sore throat or cough. The survey, conducted by LocalCircles, an online community platform, found that 58 per cent of the surveyed families reported experiencing headaches due to rising pollution levels, while 50 per cent had a family member dealing with breathing difficulties or asthma.

 The survey gathered responses from over 21,000 residents of Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Faridabad, and Ghaziabad of which 63 per cent of respondents were men and 37 per cent were women.

Some among the 9,905 respondents to the question indicated more than one health issue. The largest group, 75%, indicated “sore throat and/or cough"; 58% indicated “headache"; 50% indicated “breathing difficulty/asthma"; 42% indicated “difficulty sleeping"; 33% indicated “runny nose and/or congestion"; 33% indicated “burning eyes"; and 33% indicated “anxiety and/or difficulty in concentrating".

To sum up, 75% of Delhi-NCR families have one or more members with a sore throat or cough, while 58% have a headache due to rising levels of pollution; 50% have someone having breathing difficulty or asthma due to highly toxic levels of pollution. Every family has someone with one or more ailments due to the toxic air. The percentage of families surveyed who reported that they or some family members are unwell has increased from 69% on 1 November to 75% on 19 November; however, compared to one month back, more than double the families have indicated that they or family members have been impacted due to rising pollution levels in Delhi-NCR.

Around 16% of respondents indicated that they are “travelling/planning to travel out for some or most part of this month"; 8% indicated that they “stay indoors, increase intake of immunity foods/drinks and bear it"; 27% indicated that they “stay indoors, increase intake of immunity foods/drinks, use air purifiers"; 8% indicated that they “carry on routine activity and wear a mask when outdoors"; 11% indicated that they “carry on routine activity and wear a mask when outdoors, and increase intake of immunity foods/drinks"; 27% stated that they “will not do any of the above and just live with it"; and 2% of respondents did not give a clear answer.

To sum up, 27% of Delhi-NCR families surveyed are using air purifiers to reduce the impact of pollution; a large majority just live with it by increasing their intake of immunity foods and drinks; 23% are not doing anything to protect themselves.

The percentage of families using air purifiers has increased substantially from 18% on 19 October to 27% a month later, which shows that those who can afford it are investing in technology to bring them some relief from rising air pollution.

"Given that the AQI reached new peaks earlier this week in Delhi NCR and PM2.5 of up to 1500 was reported in parts of Delhi, LocalCircles has conducted a new survey to find out how those residing in Delhi NCR are coping with elevated levels of air pollution, which is being compared to living in a gas chamber," the survey stated.