Relationship Between COVID-19-Infected Number and PM2.5 Level in Ambient Air of Bangkok, Thailand

Abstract

Several empirical studies of reductions in air pollutants as social distancing and working from home (WFH) policies have sparked recommendations that the COVID-19 pandemic might have been responsible for better air quality particularly in urban area. These findings offer a compelling provocation for the scientific community to detect and investigate variations to air quality as a consequence of government enforced quarantine. In spite of countless research studies focusing on the connection between WFH policy and air pollutant levels, the majority of discussion has unfortunately ignored the central role of other potential sources (e.g. agricultural waste burnings, cooking emissions, and industrial releases) in governing air quality, or has neglected the psychological and social impacts of COVID-19. In this study, a t test was used to compare the average concentrations of PM 2.5 and COVID-19-infected numbers (n) in three different periods which were n < 300 vs. n ≧ 300, n < 500 vs. n ≧ 500, and n < 700 vs. n ≧ 700. Some significant differences were observed in the groups of n < 500 vs. n ≧ 500, and n < 700 vs. n ≧ 700 indicating that the psychological and social impacts play a crucial role in restricting daily activities and thus reducing the atmospheric contents of PM 2.5 in some areas. Further assessments were conducted by separating PM 2.5 contents into three different periods (i.e. Period-I: day-1 ~ day-10; Period-II: day-11 ~ day-20; Period-III: day-21 ~ day-31). Some significant reductions of PM 2.5 during the Period-I were detected in the eastern area of Bangkok. In addition, Pearson correlation analysis showed that hot-spot numbers appear to be a minor of importance in controlling PM 2.5 levels in the ambient air of Bangkok, Thailand.

The effects of air pollution, meteorological parameters, and climate change on COVID-19 comorbidity and health disparities: A systematic review

“…A wide array of meteorological factors including particulate matter, air pollution, and heat were identified as positively associated with the spread of COVID-19. Studies identified that reported on the relationship between meteorological parameters and COVID-19 spread in different regions of the world [ [21] , [22] , [23] , [24] , [25] , [26] , [27] , [28] , [29] , [30] , [31] , [32] , [33] , [34] , [35] , [36] , [37] , [38] , [39] , [40] , [41] , [42] , [43] , [44] , [45] , [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] , [52] , [53] , [54] , [55] , [56] , [57] , [58] , [59] , [60] , [61] , [62] , [63] , [64] , [65] , [66] , [67] , [68] , [69] , [70] , [71] , [72] , [73] , [74] , [75] , [76] , [77] , [78] , [79] ] are shown in Table 1 . The interplay among meteorological factors (air pollution, meteorological parameters, and climate change) ...…”

“… The lockdown policy and work from home arrangement brought a significant reduction in PM 2.5 concentrations and the number of cases in COVID-19 hotspot areas. [ 43 ] Jakarta, Indonesia Meteorological parameters and COVID-19 incidence Weather data was obtained from the meteorological department. COVID-19 case data was obtained from the Ministry of Health.…”

Comprehensive review of the annual haze episode in Northern Thailand

“…Terra passes over Thailand at 10:30 LST from the North to South and the opposite direction at 22:30 LST while Aqua passes at 13:30 LST South to North and the opposite direction at 1:30 LST (Sukitpaneenit & Kim Oanh, 2014;Uttajug et al, 2021). The acquisition of data is done through a swath 2330 km wide, analysing the ground and the atmosphere through 36 spectral band from 400 nm to 14.4 μm with a spatial resolution varying from 250 to 1 km (Phayungwiwattahankoon et al, 2014;Pongpiachan et al, 2021).…”

Impacts of Meteorological Parameters on COVID-19 Transmission Trends in the Central Part of Thailand

“…Despite numerous studies associated with the relationship between air pollutant concentrations and COVID-19 incidence conducted mostly in Western countries, insight into this correlation, particularly in Southeast Asian countries, is strictly limited. There are only a few studies investigating the impact of lockdown policy on the decrease in the COVID-19 transmission rate in Bangkok, Thailand (Pongpiachan et al, 2021). The in uence of lockdown policy in the middle of the global pandemic has been intensively analyzed throughout Southeast and South Asian countries by monitoring atmospheric NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 2.5 , and CO levels (Roy et al, 2021).…”