Fluctuations in environmental pollutants and air quality during the lockdown in the USA and China: two sides of COVID-19 pandemic

Abstract

The World Health Organization declared the outbreak of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) as a pandemic on March 11, 2020. Due to the global threat, many countries impose immediate lockdown. The impact of lockdown on the environmental pollutants and climate indicators gained considerable attention in the literature. This study aims to describe the variations in the environmental pollutants (CO, NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 2.5 and PM 10) with and without the lockdown period in the majorly hit states and provinces of the USA and China, respectively. Data during the first quarter year of 2019 and 2020 (lockdown period) was used in this study. Moreover, the effect of these pollutants on the pandemic spread was also studied. The results illustrated that the overall concentrations of CO, NO 2 and PM 2.5 were decreased by 19.28%, 36.7% and 1.10%, respectively, while PM 10 and SO 2 were increased by 27.81% and 3.81% respectively in five selected states of the USA during the lockdown period. However, in the case of chosen provinces of China, overall, the concentrations of all selected pollutants, i.e., CO, NO 2 , SO 2 , PM 2.5 and PM 10 , were reduced by 26.53%, 38.98%, 18.36%, 17.78% and 37.85%, respectively. The COVID-19 reported cases and deaths were significantly correlated with NO 2 , PM 2.5 and PM 10 in both China and the USA. The findings of this study concluded that the limited anthropogenic activities in the lockdown situation due to this novel pandemic disease result in a significant improvement of air quality by reducing the concentrations of environmental pollutants. As the trend goes on, the reduction of most pollutant concentrations is expected as long as partial or complete lockdown goes on.

Effects of climatological parameters on the outbreak spread of COVID-19 in highly affected regions of Spain

“…Recently, due to COVID-19 crisis, implementation of lockdown restrictions adopted by states and the federal government has resulted in stopping of economic activities such as industrial projects, construction projects, and transportations observing the stagnant phase (Shakoor et al 2020). Consequently, the levels of NO 2 and PM 2.5 particles of air contaminant have declined 64% in major Spanish cities due to COVID-19 precaution measures.…”

The nexus between meteorological parameters and COVID-19 pandemic: case of Islamabad, Pakistan

“…The rapid spread of this contagious disease includes pneumonia-like symptomatic or asymptomatic manifestations (80% infections) (WHO 2020b). The incubation period of this novel coronavirus is 1-14 days after infection; most commonly, the symptoms start to appear within 5-8 days (Linton et al 2020;Shakoor et al 2020). The infected person could experience mild to severe symptoms mainly including fever (most frequent), cough, shortness of breath.…”

Influence of lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic on air pollution and carcinogenic content of particulate matter observed in Croatia

“…Significantly reduced environmental pollution was also reported for three cities in central China, comprising 60% lower concentrations of NO 2 and 30% lower concentrations of PM 2.5 particles during the lockdown (Masum and Pal 2020). Another study found 26-49% lower NO 2 concentrations in six cities in China and 29-61% in some states and provinces of the USA comparing with the first quarter of 2019 (Shakoor et al 2020). The same investigation showed a reduction of PM 2.5 concentrations by 7-27% and 11-31%, as well as reduction of PM 10 by 23-79% and 20-25% in China and the USA, respectively.…”

“…Most of the studies related to the "lockdown's" influence on air pollution are focused on "classic" pollutants such as NO 2 , CO, SO 2 , PM 2.5 and PM 10 (Anil and Alagha 2020; Shakoor et al 2020;Bilal Bashir et al 2020;Pata 2020). This work intends to focus on the levels of some additional pollutants such as particulate-bound carcinogenic PAHs and particle fraction PM 1 .…”