Mad rush for oxygen tanks, air purifiers in haze-choked Southeast Asia

Read the original at South China Morning Post ↗
Cite

France-Presse, A. (2026, October 18). Mad rush for oxygen tanks, air purifiers in haze-choked Southeast Asia. South China Morning Post. https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/southeast-asia/article/3371289/mad-rush-oxygen-tanks-air-purifiers-haze-choked-southeast-asia?utm_source=rss_feed

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

South China Morning Post · collected 2026-10-18 · by Agence France-Presse

Quick Summary

In Southeast Asia, families are urgently purchasing oxygen tanks and air purifiers due to persistent toxic haze from Indonesian forest fires. At AA Alive, a medical equipment company near Kuala Lumpur, sales of oxygen bottles have increased by 35 percent as demand surges.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-18, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

Families across Southeast Asia are urgently purchasing oxygen tanks and air purifiers to combat toxic haze from forest fires in Indonesia. The smog has persisted for weeks, prompting a surge in demand for equipment that can clean indoor air. In Kuala Lumpur, employees at AA Alive, a medical equipment company, are operating at full capacity to meet the increased demand. According to Rafina Firdaus, a member of AA Alive’s sales team, the company has experienced a 35 percent increase in sales due to the haze.

Written for “Southeast Asia Haze Crisis” on 2026-10-18, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 88299 · logged 2026-10-18

Story

📰 Southeast Asia Haze Crisis
Environment · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

This article reads unscored and hedges 0% of its claims. Each row says how that neighbour differs.
What is causing the haze in Southeast Asia? Key facts explained different event · 87%
Times of India
⚖️ leaning not scored 🔴 14% hedged 6 of 43 📰 publisher trust 59
“Article A describes the cause and effects of the haze from wildfires in Indonesia, while Article B reports on the consequences of that haze, specifically the rush for oxygen tanks and air purifiers in affected areas.”
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
2
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
0%
0 of 2 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
64/100
South China Morning Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Environment
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-18 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

South China Morning Post · 2513 article(s) · 6 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 6 correction(s)
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Who wrote this

Agence France-Presse
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Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 185 articles by Agence France-Presse →

Topics

AA Alive AA Alive’s Indonesia Kuala Lumpur

Subjects

AA Alive ORG · 1× AA Alive’s ORG · 1× Indonesia GPE · 1× Kuala Lumpur GPE · 1× Rafina Firdaus PERSON · 1×

Narrative

Mad rush for oxygen tanks, air purifiers in haze-choked Southeast Asia Families scramble to buy devices to keep indoor air clean as toxic haze from the Indonesia forest fires persists At AA Alive, a medical equipment company based just outside Kuala Lumpur, employees were working at full capacity to deliver oxygen bottles, with officials saying sales were rocketing.
framing: assertive · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-18
2026-10-18 · South China Morning Post
Mad rush for oxygen tanks, air purifiers in haze-choked Southeast Asia · assertive framing

Claims (2 extracted, 0 hedged)

Mad rush for oxygen tanks, air purifiers in haze-choked Southeast Asia Families scramble to buy devices to keep indoor air clean as toxic haze from the Indonesia forest fires persists At AA Alive, a medical equipment company based just outside Kuala Lumpur, employees were working at full capacity to deliver oxygen bottles, with officials saying sales were rocketing. asserted
sales → choke → bottles
“We have seen a 35 per cent increase in sales because of the haze,” Rafina Firdaus, a member of AA Alive’s sales team, said during a visit. asserted
Firdaus → see → visit
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Articles to 18 Oct 2026