A red alert for smog is up in Beijing for the first time this year as authorities warn of heavy air pollution that could last until Wednesday. A red alert is the highest warning for smog.

The images you are seeing now is of the air in Beijing this morning. The use of motor vehicles in the Chinese capital is restricted via an odd-even scheme based on license plate numbers. High-polluting vehicles are ordered off the roads. Government agencies and state-owned enterprises are required to reduce their use of vehicles by 30 percent.

The city also shut down construction sites and certain factories. Over the past 11 months, the air quality standard was met on 185 days, 10 days more than the same period last year. The government has set a target for the first time in this next five year plan to reduce PM2.5 particles in the air by 2020.