Pakistan's Punjab declared a health emergency due to toxic smog on Friday, banning construction, shutting schools for another week and moving universities online, with a three-day lockdown possible, the province's senior minister said on Friday.

Air quality in Lahore reached hazardous levels this week, while other cities in South Asia also battle toxic pollution.

Pakistan's most populated province of Punjab on Friday extended school closures in smog-hit major cities by a week, as the country battles record

Pakistan's Punjab province declared a health emergency due to toxic smog on Friday, banning construction, shutting schools for another week and moving universities online, while hundreds of thousands of Muslims prayed for rain and forgiveness.

With smog intensity escalating in Lahore at the end of October, affecting its 13 million residents, the Punjab government imposed a “green lockdown” and set up a “smog war room.”

One doctor compared breathing in Pakistan's toxic air to smoking "dozens of cigarettes a day" as Lahore is the world's most polluted city this week.

Cities across India and Pakistan are struggling with dense smog that has worsened air quality, with authorities declaring a "health crisis" in the latter's Punjab province.

The government of Pakistan’s most polluted province has launched a new policy to address a protracted smog crisis, after the world’s worst air shuttered schools and saw 900 people seek hospital treatment in a single day.

The authorities have also imposed a "health emergency" in Lahore and Multan districts to combat dense smog blanketing the province of about 130 million population for the last few weeks