Beijing air quality getting better, but more needs to be done

Two-thirds of Beijing residents think the city's air quality is getting better, a survey by Gallup, whose results were published on Monday, said.

Sixty-six percent of the more than 4,000 people polled last year, said air quality had improved, compared with just 53 percent of a similar group questioned in 2006.

Gallup's website mentioned the fact that some Olympic athletes had cited air quality concerns as a reason for possibly skipping some events this summer. However, it also quoted the International Olympic Committee's top medical official, Arne Ljungqvist, as saying that while pollution could affect athletes' performance, the levels posed no serious danger to them.