Investigating the Implications of COVID-19 on PM2.5 in Pakistan

Abstract

There are profound impacts of Coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) globally, nationally and locally. To assess the impact of COVID-19 on the hourly concentrations of particular matter < 2.5 microns (PM2.5) in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan, this study employs multifractal analysis. Comparative analysis of high frequency (hourly) PM2.5 data for both cities from February to April for 2019 and 2020 revealed inner dynamics of time series through seasonal and trend decomposition (STL) first, then multifractal detrended fluctuation analysis (MFDFA). The empirical findings confirmed existence of multifractality in hourly PM2.5. Based on multifractal properties, efficiency of Lahore declines during COVID-19. Furthermore, a varying impact of COVID-19 is found on the strength of multifractality of PM2.5 under consideration. Drastic, significant change is found on the efficiency of air quality in Lahore before and during COVID-19 periods. Before COVID-19, PM2.5 remains relatively efficient, while during COVID-19 period it shows high multifractality, the opposite of which is true for Karachi. However, all series exhibit anti-persistent (negatively correlated) behavior before and during COVID-19, with respect to the remainder component of PM2.5 concentration. This means that when PM2.5 concertation is high at a given time, in the next period, the concentration will be low. Intuitively, this is accurate, given that hourly PM2.5 concentrations change with economic activity, which oscillates in daily cycles of high and low PM2.5 concentrations. In Lahore significantly lower efficiency is observed during COVID-19; no conclusion on lockdown can be made. In Karachi, higher efficiency was achieved COVID-19, which was well correlated with the before COVID-19 period, implying effective lockdown policy. The confirmation and examination of multifractality in PM2.5 concentrations of Lahore and Karachi presents researchers and policymakers with a distinct signature for the impact of COVID-19. It provides validation for the development of such policy evaluation tools, with reference to air quality in Pakistan.

Herding behavior during the Covid-19 pandemic: a comparison between Asian and European stock markets based on intraday multifractality

“…We find a growing number of studies on the financial impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic. Recently, various themes have been developed, including financial networks (Aslam et al, 2020c ; Zhang et al, 2020 ), stock market reactions (Aslam et al 2020e , 2021 ; Haroon & Rizvi, 2020 ; Zhang et al, 2020 ), exchange rate fluctuation during the pandemic (Aslam et al, 2020b ; Njindan Iyke, 2020 ), oil market reactions (Apergis & Apergis, 2020 ; Devpura & Narayan, 2020 ), air quality performance and multifractality (Ming et al, 2020 ; Sipra et al, 2021 ), insurance (Wang et al, 2020 ) and gold and cryptocurrencies (Corbet et al, 2020 ). The Covid-19 pandemic has also affected the efficiency of different financial markets.…”

Investigating connections between COVID-19 pandemic, air pollution and community interventions for Pakistan employing geoinformation technologies

“…Recently, Sipra et al, (2020) assessed the impact of COVID-19 on the hourly concentrations of PM 2.5 using multifractal analysis in Lahore and Karachi, Pakistan. Similarly, Ali et al (2020) focused on using ground-based PM 2.5 pollution satellite observations (AOD) during the lockdown period (23 March to April 15, 2020) as compared to before lockdown.…”

Prediction of COVID-19 Confirmed Cases in Indo-Pak Sub-Continent

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