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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

Due to high air contamination levels across Mexico City and the extended metropolis in the Valley of Mexico, the Megalopolis Environmental Commission (Came) late Monday, May 2, announced an emergency Phase 1 contingency plan requiring that the Day-without-a-Car (hoy no circula) program be extended to include more cars for Tuesday, May 3, including some with 0 and 00 holograms.

Under the plan, all private, nonessential vehicles with verifications stickers of 2 will be prohibited from circulating between 5 a.m. and 10 p.m. Tuesday, as will those with verification stickers of 1 with licence plates ending with 1, 3, 5, 7, 8 and 9), plus any without digits in their plates.

By the same token, all nonessential vehicles with verification stickers of 0 or 00 with plates ending with the digits 7 and 8 are also forbidden to circulate.

According to the Came, the decision was based on information from the Mexico City Atmospheric Monitoring System, which indicates that on Tuesday current high-temperature-low-wind weather will continue across the valley, thus trapping ozone and other contaminants in the air.

According to the Came, ozone concentrations in parts of the capital exceeded the maximum allowed 155 points on Monday, reaching heights of 169 points in the Benito Juárez municipality and around the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) in the south of the city.

In Santa Fe, Pedregal, Iztacalco and parts of , the registered levels reached as high as 166 points.

“These ozone levels are due to the influence of a high pressure system over the central region of Mexico, which strengthened during the day and increased atmospheric stability in the Valley of Mexico, combining with high solar radiation, weak winds and other variables that favored the formation and little dispersion of ozone,” said the Came in a press release.

In addition to cutting back the number of cars that are allowed to circulate on Tuesday, the Came recommended that residents avoid civic, cultural and recreational activities, as well as not exercising outdoors between 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.