Story highlights 500 businesses, 10,000 vehicles and 2,682 officials are being punished, state media says

Parts of China have been dealing with heavy smog for nearly a month

Hong Kong (CNN) China has slapped millions of dollars worth of fines on alleged offenders for violating anti-pollution rules, according to state media.

The move comes as large swaths of the country are blanketed in dangerous, thick smog.

Some 24 cities issued the first "red alerts" for pollution of 2017 on Tuesday, according to Xinhua.

Red alerts are the highest of the four-tiered pollution warning system used by mainland China. Authorities often take steps to limit smog, like banning high-polluting vehicles from the road, when red alerts are in effect.

China has taken significant steps to tackle pollution and climate change in recent years, from limiting coal production to signing last year's Paris climate change accords.