A viral video shows an indoor air purifier reading leap from 97 to 500 when a Delhi resident opened his door; experts warn of worsening NCR pollution.
Delhi Indoor AQI Skyrockets as Door Opens
A viral clip out of Delhi has become a stark illustration of the city’s deteriorating air this season. In the video, Kapil Dhama — founder of Options360 — shows an air-purifier display reading about 97 indoors; within a minute of opening his main door, the indicator spikes to over 500 AQI, a level classed as “severe” and dangerous for everyone. The post, shared on X, has drawn hundreds of thousands of views and outraged comments from residents who say life in the NCR has become intolerable since Diwali.
The footage highlights two linked problems: rapid outdoor-to-indoor infiltration during heavy smog events, and the limits of consumer purifiers when outdoor PM2.5 levels surge. Delhi’s regional AQI readings have stayed in the “poor” to “very poor” bands since festival season; the Sameer app (CPCB) showed citywide readings near the low-to-mid 200s the same morning the clip surfaced, underscoring the persistent smog layer that allows indoor readings to climb quickly when doors or windows open.
Public reaction on social networks mixed shock with practical advice: many users urged sealing doors, using fresh-air shutoff settings on purifiers, upgrading to higher-CADR (clean air delivery rate) machines, and limiting outdoor exposure during peak hours. Health experts typically warn that AQI above 300 can cause serious respiratory distress even in healthy adults and is particularly hazardous for children, older adults and people with lung or heart conditions.
