African dust has covered Crete, causing severe degradation of air quality, mainly in Heraklion. The Region of Crete, with an official extraordinary bulletin, calls on the population to strictly adhere to health protection guidelines, as the situation is expected to insist on Sunday.

Significant burden on air quality today Saturday and tomorrow Sunday in Crete due to the transfer of African dust (PM10).

The Public Health Directorate in cooperation with the Directorate of the Environment makes the following recommendations for the protection of public health:

Recommendations to people of increased risk

People with respiratory problem heart patients as well as people over 65 should limit physical activity activity and staying outdoors.
People with asthma may need more frequent inhalations of relief.

Recommendations to the general population

Each person should limit physical activity especially if they feel discomfort in the eyes or has coughing, nasal congestion or throat discomfort.

In addition, the following population protection measures are recommended:

Stay indoors. If residential areas are located within the event of the episode and are affected by the transfer of dust it is proposed to reduce unnecessary travel and stay indoors without direct communication with the external air (windows closure, doors and other diodes in the interior).

If the houses have an air conditioning system, it is suggested to use it in the function of internal air recycling to minimize the burden of air quality indoors. The “fresh air” intake option provided by certain air conditioning systems must be switched off during the episode to avoid the influx of tobacco from the external environment. It is also necessary to properly maintain the filters of air conditioning systems.

Reduce sources of internal air pollution inside the house. During an episode, smoking inside the homes should be avoided, cooking with barbecues, use of fireplace for baking/cooking/heating, aerosol use and any other source that may burden the quality of the inner air. In any case, the instructions of the competent authorities should be followed faithfully.