The average air quality in Shanghai was "good" or better on 239 of the 304 days through the end of October, Shanghai's environmental protection bureau claimed yesterday.

According to official figures, 78.6 percent of days in the period had "excellent" or "good" air quality, up from 73.3 percent in the first 10 months of 2013, it said.

There were just four days in the period when the air was classed as severely polluted, said Zhang Quan, director of the Shanghai Environmental Protection Bureau.

That compared with 13 such days in the same period of last year, he said.

The bureau’s claims were made despite the fact that the city’s mean PM2.5 density — or fine particulate pollution — was 50 micrograms per cubic meter in the January to October period.

According to the World Health Organization, a "safe" PM2.5 concentration is 25 micrograms per cubic meter.

In neighboring cities, the average PM2.5 density was about 59 micrograms in the first 10 months, Zhang said.

The air quality in Shanghai “remains fragile due to the influence of other provinces, and from pollution created within the city,” he said.

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