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With heavy smog still shrouding the city and the Olympics only 10 days away, Beijing is considering a series of emergency measures to fight pollution, including the removal of up to 90 per cent of cars from the streets.

The emergency measures could also include the shutdown of more factories and the complete closing of all construction sites in the capital, the Chinese state media reported yesterday.

Factories and residents in the nearby city of Tianjin and the neighbouring province of Hebei could also be affected by the emergency measures, the government said.

The haze in Beijing was so bad yesterday that visibility was reduced to just a few hundred metres. Olympic stadiums were barely visible behind the smog.

China acknowledged yesterday that pollution in Beijing has remained high, despite more than a week of drastic cuts to city traffic. Half of the city's 3.3 million private cars have been forced off the streets every day under the current rules, but the system seems to be failing.

The city's air quality has been dangerously unhealthy for the past four days, exceeding the national standards for the pollution index, the state-run China Daily reported yesterday.

The emergency measures will be officially announced soon, and will be put into effect within 48 hours if the air quality deteriorates during the Olympics, the newspaper said.

It cited the recommendation of one environmental expert who suggested that up to 90 per cent of private cars should be removed from the streets every day. Under this plan, cars would be permitted on the roads only on dates that matched the last digit on their licence plates.

China has promised a "green Olympics" in Beijing, but there is growing concern about the smog. Environmental group Greenpeace reported yesterday that the level of small particles in the air (PM10, a key measure of pollution) is still twice as high in the city as the maximum recommended by the World Health Organization.

Greenpeace also noted that China does not even measure ground-level ozone, which can be dangerous to the respiratory system.

The BBC reported that its own air-quality tests yesterday at the Olympic Village found the level of small particles was three times higher than the recommended level.

Many athletes are worried about the smog. Some top competitors, including marathon world record holder Haile Gebrselassie of Ethiopia, have decided to skip the Games to protect their health.

The International Olympic Committee says it might delay some outdoor events if pollution levels are unhealthy. Some athletes have considered wearing masks during their training sessions in Beijing.

Canada is sending its entire track-and-field team to Singapore for its pre-Olympic training camp. The athletes will remain in Singapore even during the opening days of the Olympics, to minimize their exposure to Beijing's pollution.

The Australian Olympic Committee said yesterday it will allow its athletes to withdraw from any Olympic competition if they feel pollution is a threat to their health.

Faced with the persisting smog, China has reacted with a mixture of denial and reassurance. At a news conference on the weekend, Chinese officials said the grey haze in Beijing is usually just "water vapour" or "light fog" or "dust."

Environmentalists say the authorities are using pollution standards that are looser than the normal world standards. For example, Beijing uses the term "blue-sky day" for any day when the pollution index is below 100. Yet anything above 50 is unhealthy, some experts say. Even on an official "blue-sky day" in the capital, the haze is often enough to blot out the sun.

China has spent billions of dollars on anti-pollution measures in Beijing in the past several years, and most analysts say it has managed to reduce the level of some pollutants in the city. But with its massive economic growth, its thousands of new cars on the roads and its booming factories, the level of smog has persisted at relatively high levels, despite the improvements.