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In this photo: on a street in Daqing, Heilongjiang Province, on Oct. 21.

On October 21, the smog has shut down one of the largest cities in northeastern China . In Harbin , capital of Heilongjiang province inhabited by 11 million people , yesterday there was a visibility of 10 meters and a concentration of PM2 , 5 ( particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 thousandths of a millimeter ), which has value reached 1,000 micrograms per cubic meter. A level above 300 is considered to be toxic , while the World Health Organisation, the concentration of PM2, 5 per day should not exceed 25 .

For this reason , the authorities have asked people not to leave the house , were suspended in schools and the lessons were disrupted flights to the international airport and the road into the streets . These days even other areas in Northeast China are invaded by a cloud of smog , such as Tangshan , two hours away from Beijing and Changchun , capital of Jilin province , on the border with the province of Heilongjiang.

Last week, to handle the emergency pollution Beijing issued a warning system based on different levels of criticality. In January of 2013 the capital was detected in one day a value of PM2, 5 of 900 micrograms per cubic meter.