Environmental officials in China have announced plans to put in place fresh draconian anti-pollution measures to combat the smog in time for the Olympics.

With the official opening of the athletes' village yesterday shrouded in pea-soup fog, pressure is piling on the government to bring the city's air quality problems under control before the start of the Games in just 11 days.

Although refusing to give details of the new measures, environmental authorities said today that they would try to give the public a little forward notice before activating them. Li Xin, a senior engineer at the Beijing Environmental Protection Buearu, said: "We will implement an emergency plan 48 hours in advance if the air quality deteriorates during the August 8-24 Games."

Environmental authorities insisted that the smog is really only in the eye of the beholder and that the quality of the air itself should be determined by scientific assessment.

Du Shaozhong, deputy director of the Beijing city Environmental Protection Bureau, said at the weekend: “Good air quality does not necessarily mean blue sky. You might not be able to see things in a bathroom, but you would not conclude that it’s due to pollution.” He added: “We should judge whether there is pollution by scientific statistics, not by what our eyes can see.”

But the pollution readings make for grim statistics. A week ago, it looked as if the slew of drastic measures taken by the capital to try to clear the air before the Olympics open on August 8 might be having some effect. With half the cars taken off the streets, construction ordered to halt and many factories closed for miles around, the air pollution index for particulate matter – a major airborne pollutant – was at a reasonable 67.

But, even with so many vehicles off the streets, the index soared on Thursday to 113, peaked at 118 on Saturday and was still at 113 on Sunday. No number is yet available for today, but the air looks as thick as ever with many tall buildings hidden by haze.

The weather has not been on the side of the Olympic organizers. On Sunday, temperatures of well above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (32 degrees Celsius), coupled with 70 percent humidity and scarcely a breath of wind, created a soupy mix of harmful chemicals, particulate matter and water vapour.

The national environmental protection bureau website showed the air pollution reading for Beijing yesterday in the III 1 category – defined as having the potential to affect people with respiratory problems severely and to make breathing difficult for others. That ranked the capital as third from the bottom of a list of China’s most polluted cities.

Mr Du admitted that for 30 percent of the year, the city’s air quality still failed to meet standards. But he said there was still time to clean the air – and further tough measures could be imposed to help to battle the inclement weather. “The air quality in August will be good.”

According to China’s lunar calendar, August 7 will be the first day of autumn – and thus a date when the weather could turn, officials say.

Athletes entering the newly opened Olympic Village on Sunday could barely make out the Bird’s Nest through the smog. But the facilities are second to none with an acupuncture salon and traditional Chinese tea house in addition to the usual supermarkets, churches and information centres available at previous Games. And in the nail salon, manicures with polish in bright Chinese colours and flamboyant Peking opera designs are on offer.

The Internet is proving more contentious. Despite assurances from the authorities that the Olympics would not be subjected to the Great Firewall of China that blocks access to sites deemed particularly sensitive, several remained inaccessible.

The BBC’s Chinese language site remains impenetrable, as does that of Japan’s Kyodo news. Officials promised to look into the difficulties and said they could not rule out technical problems. Given the long-time suspicion of the BBC website, the problems may be more than technical.

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