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Beijing rain reduces air pollution

Rain showers that lasted all Sunday and part of Monday helped to clear up Beijing's air pollution, which has reached World Health Organisation recommended levels, agencies reported.

Air pollution levels on Monday were less than half those of the day before. The air pollution index measured 38, the lowest it had been for a week.

Since the capital began its pre-Olympic measures to improve air quality on July 20, the level of particulate matter—the most common pollutant in Beijing—has only fallen within WHO guidelines a few times, the report said.

Athletes competing in the Olympic Games have taken different measures to deal with the pollution, but Great Britains’s field hockey captain, Ben Hawes, said he was not too worried. "We were more concerned with the heat and humidity," Hawes told Associated Press.

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