Pakistan's Punjab province declared a health emergency due to toxic smog on Friday, banning construction, shutting schools for another week and moving universities online, while hundreds of thousands of Muslims prayed for rain and forgiveness.

The government of Pakistan’s most polluted province has launched a new policy to address a protracted smog crisis, after the world’s worst air shuttered schools and saw 900 people seek hospital treatment in a single day.

With smog intensity escalating in Lahore at the end of October, affecting its 13 million residents, the Punjab government imposed a “green lockdown” and set up a “smog war room.”

The U.N. children’s agency is warning that the health of 11 million children in Pakistan’s eastern Punjab province is in danger because of air pollution that experts say has become a fifth season in r

Pakistan's province of Punjab set up a "smog war room" to tackle severe pollution, officials said, as poor air quality turned its capital of Lahore into the world's most polluted city and forced the closure of some educational institutions.

From banning tuk-tuks and barbecues to demolishing old brick kilns, Pakistan's government is pushing a series of measures to fight record-breaking smog.

Pakistan's Punjab declared a health emergency due to toxic smog on Friday, banning construction, shutting schools for another week and moving universities online, with a three-day lockdown possible, the province's senior minister said on Friday.