KUALA LUMPUR: The haze, which had enveloped the southern and central parts of peninsular Malaysia over the past week, is expected to gradually ease due to more rain in the next few days. 

The Meteorological Services Department in a statement yesterday said the situation in Sarawak was also in for some improvement, especially in the eastern part of the state, due to convective activities and rain. 

“However, over the western part, the situation is expected to remain the same,” the statement said.  

“In Sabah, more convective activity is expected over the western part of the state. 

“This may help improve the situation. Since the wind over the eastern part of Sabah is blowing from the south, the current situation may continue.” 

The department said visibility in the northern region of the peninsula had improved.  

“As the wind over the southern states are still blowing from the southeast and southwest, some areas of Selangor, Negri Sembilan, Pahang, Johor and Malacca are experiencing intermittent hazy conditions. 

“At 2pm (on Wednesday), visibility at Kuantan, Batu Pahat, Mersing and Malacca was between 2.5km and 4km.”  

It also said that although the coastal areas of Sarawak experienced scattered rainfall, there was no significant improvement in the state since last week. 

Visibility at Sibu had improved to 7km while Kuching and Sri Aman recorded the lowest visibility of between 1km and 2km. 

In Sabah, the haze deteriorated slightly, with visibility at Tawau, Sandakan and Kota Kinabalu fluctuating between 2km and 4km. 

As of yesterday, 452 hotspots were detected in Sumatra.