On Friday, January 17, Dhaka briefly ranked as the most polluted city globally before dropping to second place, according to AirVisual, a U.S.-based air quality monitoring organization. At 12 PM, Dhaka's Air Quality Index (AQI) was 208 but slightly improved to 196 by 1 PM. Delhi claimed the top spot with an AQI of 206, followed by Kathmandu in third with an AQI of 190.

The AQI categorizes air quality as follows: 0–50 is "good," 51–100 is "moderate," 101–150 is "unhealthy for sensitive groups," 151–200 is "unhealthy," 201–300 is "very unhealthy," and above 300 is "hazardous." Based on these standards, Dhaka’s air quality today falls under the "unhealthy" category.