While outdoor activities, including outdoor sporting events, exhibitions and festivals, and outdoor dining at restaurants have been banned, “unavoidable religious rites” are exempted from this direction, the order said.

Some outlets such as pharmacies, oil depots, dairy shops and fruit and vegetable shops were similarly exempted from directions to close until 20:00 local time.

Lahore’s air quality remained hazardous on Monday, with an index score of over 600, according to IQAir, but that was significantly lower than the 1,900 it reached in some places earlier this month.

A score of 0-50 is considered “good”.

Several parts of South Asia are engulfed in a toxic haze each winter as cold air traps dust, emissions and smoke from agricultural fires.

Punjab has blamed its particularly toxic air this year on pollution coming from India, where parts of the north have also struggled with dangerous air, and said it would take up the issue with the neighboring country through its foreign ministry.

India’s Supreme Court on Monday ordered the Delhi government to decide by November 25 whether to impose a “perpetual ban” on firecrackers, legal news portal Bar and Bench reported.

Firecrackers set off by revelers at Diwali, the Hindu festival of lights that was celebrated on October 31 this year despite a ban, have exacerbated the region’s pollution problem.