Air pollution improvement and mortality rate during COVID-19 pandemic in India: global intersectional study

Abstract

This research was carried out using the open-source database system along with the continuous air quality monitoring station results from global data sets during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in India and the global. Our purpose of this research is to study the improvement of air quality and human mortality rates in countries worldwide during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Worldwide air quality data were collected from > 12,000 continuous air quality monitoring stations on six continents covering 1000 major cities from over 100 countries. Here, we discussed the implementation of the open-source data set of basic air pollutants such as PM 2.5, NO 2 , temperature, relative humidity, and Air Quality Index variation during the pre-lockdown and lockdown pandemic COVID-19 in India and described the global aspect. An average concentration of PM 2.5 (145.51 μg/m 3), NO 2 (21.64 μg/m 3), and AQI index (55.58) continuously decreased. The variation of PM 2.5, NO 2 , normally shows more than 25 μg/m 3 every year, but during the COVID-19 lockdown period (April 2020) continuously decreased below 20 μg/m 3. Similarly, the AQI index and meteorological factors such as temperature, relative humidity, and wind speed variation decreased significantly in the many countries in the world. In Asian countries, air quality improved during the national lockdown especially in the most polluted cities globally such as Beijing, Delhi, and Nanjing and also in developed cities like Madrid, New York, Paris, Seoul, Sydney, Tokyo. Furthermore, the reduction of particulate matter was in about 46%, and other gaseous pollutants during the lockdown period were observed in a 54% reduction. We are witnessing pollution reductions which add significantly to improvements in air quality. This is due to the massive decrease in the use of fossil fuel, which in turn reduces production and traffic in general. People nowadays are now willing to see a comparatively healthier world with bleached skies and natural ecosystems. This research finding demonstrates potential safety benefits associated with improving air quality and mortality rates during the COVID-19 pandemic, resulting in decreases in mortality rates in India and around the world.

Impact of COVID-19 lockdown upon the air quality and surface urban heat island intensity over the United Arab Emirates

“…Isaifan (2020) recorded a substantial decrease in NO 2 and carbon emissions (30% and 25%, respectively) in China, which correlated to industrial lockdowns. Karuppasamy et al (2020) documented a 55% contraction in NO 2 in India during the lockdown. A recent analysis in the Middle East has also shown a decrease in the number of air pollutants in Morocco of 75%, 49%, and 96% for PM 10 , SO 2 , and NO 2 , respectively ( Otmani et al, 2020 ).…”

Impacts of nationwide lockdown due to COVID-19 outbreak on air quality in Bangladesh: a spatiotemporal analysis

“…Isaifan (2020) reported a significant drop in N 2 O and carbon emissions (i.e., 30 and 25%, respectively) in China, due to industrial lockdown. Karuppasamy et al (2020) reported a 55% reduction in NO 2 in India during the lockdown period. Additionally, it is hypothesized that different air pollutants may have a significant relationship with COVID-19 infections, although they are not fully examined, and there remains uncertainty .…”

Estimating the Inadvertent Decrement in Mortality due to Reduction in Ambient Fine Particulate Concentrations During COVID-19 Lockdown in India

“…The predicted values would represent the mortality if there were no COVID-19 lockdown scenario. However, due to episodic changes in PM 2.5 concentrations in India during COVID-19 lockdown (Karuppasamy et al 2020;Singh and Chauhan 2020), a reduction in 2020 mortality values is expected. This potential reduction in mortality is calculated using the developed concentration-response function and obtained changes in PM 2.5 concentrations.…”

“…Consequently, several governments have been implementing nationwide lockdowns, restricting most nonessential activities to limit the virus's spread. closure While the cost of enforcing these restrictions is enormous, numerous studies reported a silver lining to COVID-19 lockdowns in terms of reduced ambient air pollution due to decreased anthropogenic activities (Chen et al 2020;Karuppasamy et al 2020;Singh and Chauhan 2020).…”