In Bangladesh, a nationwide lockdown was imposed on 26 March 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to restricted emissions, it was hypothesized that the air quality has been improved during lockdown throughout the country. The study is intended to assess the impact of nationwide lockdown measures on air quality in Bangladesh. We analyzed satellite data for four different air pollutants (NO 2 , SO 2 , CO, and O 3) to assess the changes in the atmospheric concentrations of pollutants in major cities as well as across the country. In this study, the concentrations of NO 2 , SO 2 , CO, and O 3 from 1 February to 30 May of the year 2019 and 2020 were analyzed. The average SO 2 and NO 2 concentrations were decreased by 43 and 40%, respectively, while tropospheric O 3 were found to be increased with a maximum of > 7%. Among the major cities, Dhaka, Gazipur, Chattogram, and Narayanganj were found to be more influenced by the restricted emissions. In Dhaka, NO 2 and SO 2 concentrations were decreased approximately by 69 and 67%, respectively. Our analysis reveals that NO 2 concentrations are highly correlated with the regional COVID-19 cases (r = 0.74). The study concludes that the lockdown measures significantly reduced air pollution because of reduced vehicular and industrial emissions in Bangladesh.

This study deals with the investigation of water quality of the Buriganga river, Dhaka. For this purpose, samples were collected from five locations of the Buriganga river of Bangladesh during wet (monsoon) and dry (winter) season in 2011 to determine the spatial distribution and temporal variation of various water quality parameters. Water samples were collected from three different depths of river. The color was light brown in wet season and slightly black to black color in dry season. The water was found slightly acidic to slightly alkaline (6.6-7.5). Water temperature ranged from 18.2 o C (dry) to 27.04 o C (wet). The river was found to be highly turbid both in dry and wet season. Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), Electric Conductivity (EC) and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS) were found higher in the dry season compared to that of wet season, while Dissolved Oxygen (DO) was found higher in wet season. The mean values of parameters were EC: wet-1685 µs/cm, dry-2250 µs/cm; DO: wet-4.9 mg/L, dry-3.7 mg/L; BOD: wet-26.4 mg/L, dry-33.4 mg/L; TDS: wet-238 mg/L, dry-579 mg/L; transparency: wet-24.6 cm, dry-22.8 cm.

Abstract:The study was conducted to observe the status of fisheries resource of Tanguar haor, one of the large wetland in the north eastern part of Bangladesh. For this purpose the whole study was completed in two parts: interviewing with local people and analyzing the water quality. Indiscriminate harvesting of mother fishes, use of agrochemicals, sedimentation on haor basin and habitat destruction were found as major causes of fisheries resources degradation in the study area. Most of the water quality parameters were found good which were within the standard level set by Government of Bangladesh for fisheries. However, EC and TDS were found higher than the recommended level for fish production.

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Background The nutritional and immunization status of children can play an important role in determining their future health status of a particular country. The aim of the present study is to investigate the nutritional and immunization status of under-five children in India and Bangladesh, and to find the difference in the status between these two countries. Methods We have used the National Family Health Survey data, 2015–2016 of India and Bangladesh Demographic Health Survey, 2017–2018 datasets. The sample sizes are 222,418, among them 8759 and 8759 children for India and Bangladesh respectively. The nutritional status of under-five children is measured by standard anthropometric indicators of height-for-age (HAZ) and weight-for-age (WAZ). Regarding child immunization status, only BCG, DPT, polio and measles vaccinations are considered for the present study. Multiple binary logistic model has been used for analysing the data. Results This study reveals that the prevalence of stunting and underweight of under-five children in India are higher than Bangladeshi children. Secondary and higher educated mothers are more likely of having normal HAZ and WAZ children than up to primary educated mothers for both countries. Chances of having normal HAZ and WAZ are higher among non-poor category for both countries. The present study also shows that immunization status of Bangladeshi children is better than Indian children except measles. Religion of mother also shows influence on immunization status of children in India whereas Bangladesh shows no significant results regarding religion. Mother’s educational attainment and wealth index show influence on immunization status among children for both countries. Conclusions The study concludes that a remarkable number of under-five children are suffering from under nutrition for both countries, however Bangladeshi children have better nutritional and immunization status compared to Indian children. Higher wealth index, better educational attainment and lower unemployment of Bangladeshi mothers may be the causes for better nutritional and immunization status of children. Mother’s socio-economic factors have significant impact on determining the child’s health status. Our findings can help to government of Indian and Bangladesh for taking health policy to improve under-five children nutritional and immunization status.

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The novel coronavirus disease 2019 has become a serious health concern worldwide for almost a year. This study investigated the effects of selected air pollutants and meteorological variables on daily COVID-19 cases in Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Air pollutants and meteorological data for Dhaka city were collected from 8 April to 16 June 2020 from multiple sources. This study implied spearman's correlation to see the correlation between daily COVID-19 cases and different air pollutants and meteorological variables. Besides, multiple linear regression and the Generalized Additive Model (GAM) were used to investigate the association between COVID-19 cases and other variables used in this study. Due to lockdown measures, significant differences between PM2.5, SO2, NO2, CO, and O3 in 2019 and 2020 were observed in Dhaka city. We used lag-0, lag-7, lag-14, and lag-21 days on daily COVID-19 cases to look at the lag effect of different air pollutants and meteorology. The LRM results showed that the daily COVID-19 cases are significantly correlated with relative humidity (lag-0 days) and pressure (lag-14 days) (p < 0.05). Additionally, the GAM model results showed a significant nonlinear association among daily COVID-19 cases and meteorology and air quality variables on different lag days. Therefore, our results suggest that an effective public health intervention measures should be implemented to slowdown the spreading of COVID-19.

This study developed updated emission inventories for 2010, 2015, and 2019 baseyear for road transportation in Vietnam with future projections for 2020, 2025, and 2030. In general (2019 base-year), motorcycles contributed a substantial CO, NMVOC, PM 10 , PM 2.5 , OC, and CH 4 ($53%-89%), while BC, NOx, and SO 2 were mostly from diesel-powered trucks ($42%-76.3%). The countrywide emission contributions from two rapidly growing cities (Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh [HCM]) were estimated to be 11%-16.2% and 16.6%-20.2%, respectively, and CO 2 was found to be the leading pollutant that contributes to the overall Global Warming Potential (41% of CO 2 e) in Vietnam. In terms of future emission projections, the suggested or planned policy interventions (i.e., banning motorcycles, improved fuel quality, introducing electric vehicles, and public transportation) are expected to lead to 11%-125% (compared to Business As Usual) emission reductions in 2030, pushing Vietnam a step toward environmental sustainability.