AGENCIES: Actress Priyanka Chopra has posted a picture of herself wearing a mask while filming in New Delhi, as the heavily polluted Indian capital grinds to a halt amid “unbearable” levels of smog.

“It’s so hard to shoot here right now that I can’t even imagine what it must be like to live here under these conditions,” Chopra wrote on Instagram Sunday, while authorities in the city scrambled to deal with smog so toxic it grounded flights and forced schools to close their doors.

“We are blessed with air purifiers and masks. Pray for the homeless. Be safe everyone,” Chopra added, alongside a call for “solutions” to the crisis.

The pollution, described as “unbearable” by Delhi’s chief minister and registered as hazardous on the global air quality index (AQI), is set to envelop the region for at least another week.

A public health emergency has been declared in the city, where authorities have halted work at construction sites, handed out face masks to millions of children and instituted new traffic controls limiting the number of cars on the road.

Most residents who can afford to are staying home, though working class Delhiites are left with little choice but to venture outside.