Delhi today woke up to 'severe' air quality due to blanket of thick haze, as pollution levels breached the permissible standards by multiple times. <br/><br/>The rapid fall in air quality and visibility began last evening as moisture combined with pollutants shrouded the city in a thick cover of haze.<br/><br/>The Central Pollution Control Board, CPCB, by 10 am, recorded 'severe' air quality, meaning the intensity of pollution was extreme. <br/><br/>Board's air lab chief Dipankar Saha said, high moisture level in the air has trapped emission from local sources and hanging low over the city in the absence of wind.<br/><br/>A 'severe' Air Quality Index comes with the warning that air affects healthy people and seriously impacts those with existing respiratory or cardiovascular diseases.<br/><br/>The CPCB also recorded 'severe' air quality in the neighbouring Noida and Ghaziabad.<br/><br/>A private weather forecasting agency Skymet has blamed paddy stubble burning in neighbouring Punjab and Haryana for the thick smog.