China says some factories have violated anti-smog measures

BEIJING — China’s environmental ministry said Tuesday that an unspecified number of companies had violated measures meant to reduce smog during a period of particularly noxious pollution in the country.

The Ministry of Environmental Protection said that 10 inspection teams found companies resuming production despite a government ban and not complying with emission reduction measures.

The announcement came as 24 cities were under a pollution “red alert,” the highest warning level in China’s four-tiered system. When authorities issue red alerts, some manufacturing companies are required to cut production and heavily polluting vehicles are banned from the roads.

The official Xinhua News Agency said the ministry had given out punishments after finding that more than 500 construction sites and enterprises, including metallurgy, agricultural chemical and steel plants, and 10,000 vehicles had breached pollution response plans. Xinhua gave no details on the punishments.