SHIJIAZHUANG, Jan. 13 (Xinhua) -- Shijiazhuang, a city in northern China chronically plagued by smog, will raise the alert for air pollution to the highest level Sunday, local authority announced Saturday.

The red alert will be effective from Sunday with no specific time to lift. Local environmental authorities forecast heavy pollution would persist until Jan. 17 in the provincial capital of Hebei, which neighbors Beijing.

Industrial enterprises are ordered to halt or reduce production. An odd-even number plate rule will be imposed in certain areas to take vehicles off roads.

A new round of smog began to affect Beijing and neighboring provinces from Friday, according to the China National Environmental Monitoring Center. Beijing and Tianjin issued orange alerts Thursday for the coming days. The smog will be dispersed when a cold front arrives on Jan. 18.

China has a four-tier warning system for severe weather, with red being the most serious, followed by orange, yellow and blue.