Smog eases but Moscow health fears continue

The scorching acrid smoke that has blanketed Moscow for several consecutive days has eased its grip on the city.

People looked more cheerful but many still had face-masks on, as advised by officials who said the heat and smog from raging forest and peat fires had doubled the daily death rate in the city. People with cardio-vascular and respiratory problems would be more vulnerable to extreme weather and environmental conditions the officials said.

"There is a spray which I carry with me. It helps my lungs to breath. Look at the fumes and everything is burning. I have no idea how the fire-fighters are coping there," Valery from Moscow said without removing a mask from his face.

He also showed his red dotted arms and added he was sure the reason it was caused by intoxication: "Have a look at my arms, this is all caused by sweating. I am sweating all the time and I was prescribed an ointment to make these disappear. Actually this smog is the cause. It is really toxic."

Firefighters are battling wildfires covering an area bigger than Greater London in what the chief state weather forecaster said he believed to be Russia's worst heat wave for a millennium.

Moscow's health officials broke weeks of silence on the wider health effects of the smoke and heat, saying that ambulance dispatches were up by about a quarter to 10,000 a day. On Monday, the city's health department chief said normal average daily death rates were between 360 and 380 but were now running at around 700 per day.