But that has not stopped Oscar Chong from going out for his daily workout, despite four days of warnings from the authorities to avoid strenuous physical activity outside.

“I’m addicted to exercise. If I don’t work out on a daily basis, I don’t feel well. It actually helps release my creativity, among many other things. If I just stayed home, I’d be staring at the walls, staring at my computer screen, and ideas are never born that way,” Chong, a graphic designer, told AFP.

The trim 51-year-old was taking a break from his interval workout in the capital’s largest park, the Bosque de Chapultepec — which the authorities actually closed at one point this week, to hammer home the message that running or cycling in the middle of an air pollution alert was not a good idea.

The sprawling city — a metropolitan area of more than 20 million people — has been blanketed in a thick cloud of smog since last weekend.

Authorities blame the problem on dozens of wildfires that have broken out across central Mexico in recent weeks, and the lack of wind or rain to disperse the resulting particles.

However, experts agree the city’s chronic pollution problems are also at fault.

Mexico City is prone to air pollution, both because of the mountains that surround it — trapping smog overhead — and its more than five million cars.

But the wildfires have undoubtedly made matters worse. They have sent the levels of PM2.5 soaring — tiny particles produced by any fire that are the deadliest air pollutant.

Authorities declared a pollution alert from Tuesday to Friday, after the micro-particle level hit 158 micrograms per cubic meter.

That is the equivalent of smoking more than seven cigarettes a day, according to a widely cited study by US doctors Richard and Elizabeth Muller.

On Friday, the level fell slightly, leading the authorities to call off the alert. But breathing the air was still equivalent to smoking nearly five cigarettes a day, according to the 2015 study, which compared deaths from air pollution and smoking.

The “goal of this calculation is to help give people an appreciation for the health effects of air pollution,” the Mullers wrote.

“Of course, unlike cigarette smoking, the pollution reaches every age group.”

‘Feels horrible’

The gray cloud of smog has scrambled people’s routines in the sprawling mega-city.

Officials are urging residents to avoid physical activity outdoors, and children, the elderly and those with respiratory illnesses to remain inside.

They have canceled school and sporting events. The football league moved a key semi-final match to Queretaro, some 200 kilometers (125 miles) to the northwest.

Many residents who can afford it have decided to do the same, skipping town until the pollution dies down — though many traditional getaway spots outside the city are polluted, too.

That includes the picturesque colonial city of Puebla, 135 kilometers to the southeast, which is dealing with an extra dose of pollution thanks to the nearby Popocatepetl volcano, which has been spewing ash into the sky.

Other residents have little choice but to ride out the smog, which stings many people’s eyes and throats.

“I’ve been trying not to go out. It smells like something burned,” Nicte Munoz, 38, said from behind a surgical mask on her way to the environmental organization where she works.

“It’s not at all good for our health. It feels horrible when you’re going up the stairs and suddenly you can’t walk or breathe,” said Diana Mariscal, 21, a communications student from the central city of Pachuca who was visiting for the weekend.

Authorities have shut down large construction sites, restricted the use of older vehicles and ordered certain polluting industries to cut emissions by 30 to 40 percent. They have even shut down some of the city’s beloved street-food stands to reduce smoke.

But Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum and President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador — close allies in the leftist ruling party Morena — have faced criticism over the government’s slow reaction.

And none of the authorities’ anti-pollution measures amount to anything if they are not enforced, underlined Chong.

“Take the restrictions on older cars, for example,” he said.

“The (emissions) verification centers are full of corruption, and always have been. There may be a system designed to attack the pollution problem, but the reality is, it’s not. Pollution just continues, one way or another.”

Addressing inmates at the main Welikada prison, Sirisena promised financial support to re-integrate them in society, but made no reference to monk Galagodaatte Gnanasara, whose release was demanded Friday by the Buddhist hierarchy.

Sri Lanka has declared two days of holidays for nation-wide celebrations of Vesak, or the commemoration of the birth, enlightenment and passing away of the Buddha.

Those who benefited from the amnesty had been serving short jail terms for minor offences and none had been convicted of murder or rape, officials said.

The 762 released Saturday included several women.

“An increase in the prison population is a sign of the declining moral value of any country,” Sirisena said in a nationally televised ceremony.

He said Sri Lanka’s prison system was designed to accommodate 11,000 inmates but as of Saturday there were 24,332 convicts as well as remand prisoners in judicial custody.

Many Buddhist leaders had urged Sirisena to grant a special amnesty to monk Gnanasara on Vesak day.

Since December, Gnanasara has been serving concurrent jail sentences extending up to six years over his disruptive behaviour in court and intimidating a woman litigant.

He has long been accused of instigating hate crimes against minority Muslims in the Buddhist-majority country. The monk has denied involvement in anti-Muslim riots in 2014 that left four people dead.

His Bodu Bala Sena (BBS), or Buddhist Force, was not linked to the recent anti-Muslim riots that came after the April 21 suicide bombings blamed on Islamic extremists.

Gnanasara had maintained close ties with Wirathu, an extremist monk based in Myanmar, whose hate speech has stoked religious tensions in that country.

Wirathu visited Sri Lanka as a guest of Gnanasara shortly after the 2014 anti-Muslim riots at Sri Lanka coastal town of Aluthgama, and the duo vowed to fight what they called the threat to Buddhism from Islamic jihadists.

Between 16 and 17 million people are expected to vote across the vast island-continent, with the centre-left Labor party tipped for victory after six years in opposition.

Casting his ballot in Melbourne, would-be prime minister Bill Shorten was bullish about forming a majority government after a final poll showed his lead increasing.

“Today is the people’s day,” he said. “Be it buying a ‘democracy sausage’, the kids having a bit of a sugar cake or what have you, and voting.”

“In the event that the people of Australia voted to stop the chaos and voted for action on climate change, we will be ready to hit the ground from tomorrow.”

Weeks ago, Prime Minister Scott Morrison’s conservative Liberals had been heading for an electoral drubbing.

But he has closed the gap with a negative campaign and backing from the country’s biggest media organisation owned by Rupert Murdoch, mainly targeting older, wealthier voters who face fewer tax breaks under Labor.

After casting his vote in the Sydney suburbs, Morrison acknowledged the challenge his coalition faced, saying, “I don’t take anyone’s support in this country for granted.”

“Australians know very well what it is we are saying in terms of keeping our economy strong, keeping our budget under control… keeping Australians safe and secure,” he said, hitting the conservatives’ key talking points against Labor.

But anger over his government’s inaction on climate change may prove the real difference between the two parties.

A season of record floods, wildfires and droughts have brought the issue from the political fringes to front and centre of the campaign.

In traditionally more conservative rural areas, climate-hit farmers are demanding action. And in several rich suburbs, a generational shift has seen eco-minded candidates running Liberal party luminaries close.

In northern Sydney, former prime minister Tony Abbott — who once described climate change as “crap” — appears at risk of losing a seat he has held for more than two decades to independent challenger Zali Steggall, a lawyer and Olympic medallist in Alpine skiing.

Early rising voters in the constituency trickled into a beachside surf club to cast their ballots, as volunteers wearing bright orange “I’m a climate voter” t-shirts handed out pamphlets.

Shorten has pledged quick legislation to increase renewable energy, while the Liberals said they would not risk the coal-fuelled economy’s health to make the air cleaner.

Australia is among the world’s largest exporters of coal, providing thousands of jobs in the northeast of the country.

Candidates egged

A final survey by Newspoll published Saturday showed voters still deeply divided, with Morrison’s coalition trailing Shorten’s Labor 48.5 to 51.5 percent.

The campaign has been an often ill-tempered pitched-battle. Candidates have been egged and abused, and a slew have resigned for racist, sexist and otherwise jaw-dropping social media posts.

In Abbott’s battleground seat, a 62-year-old man was arrested and charged with thrusting a corkscrew into the stomach of someone putting up campaign banners on the eve of the election.

If Morrison wins, it would be a monumental comeback, having scraped for his political life in the hope of not entering the history books as one of the shortest-serving prime ministers in Australian history.

He took office last August after a party room coup by conservative hardliners that ousted moderate pro-climate leader Malcolm Turnbull — the latest in a series of political fratricides that have made Canberra politics look like “Game of Thrones” meets “The Hunger Games”.

Much of Morrison’s cabinet has resigned or gone into virtual hiding during the campaign because of their unpopularity.

If Shorten is elected, he would become the sixth prime minister sworn into office in a decade.

The former union leader has struggled with low personal approval ratings but has become a more polished campaigner as the election has neared.

Still, his relative lack of charisma was underlined Thursday by the death of much-loved former prime minister Bob Hawke, an Oxford-educated lovable rogue, equally at home chugging a pint or debating Keynesian economics.

But the upswelling of sadness about Hawke’s death could remind voters of less contentious times under Labor.

Should Labor win, Australia will likely get a vote on becoming a republic and, as Shorten put it, returning a head of state that the country has borrowed from the other side of the world for more than two centuries.

Voting in Australia is mandatory and polls will begin closing on the country’s east coast at 6:00 pm (0800 GMT), when exit polls could give an early indication of the election results.

But due to a complex system where voters must rank all candidates in each electorate and a number of races that are expected to be very close, officials said it could take hours before the election outcome is known.