`New Normal’ of COVID-19: Need of New
Environmental Standards

Kulshrestha, Umesh Chandra

doi:10.12944/cwe.15.2.01

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 7 publications

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“…The pandemic lockdown has taught us a lesson of `new normals'. 2 The shutdown period air pollution levels have verified the IPCC findings confirming that the present era climate change is due to anthropogenic activities. 3 The reduction in pollution during shutdown has open a new path for sustainable development using clean energy alternates.…”

supporting

confidence: 55%

COVID-19 Air Transmission and Precautions

Kulshrestha

2021

Curr Res Nutr Food Sci

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supporting

confidence: 55%

COVID-19 Air Transmission and Precautions

Kulshrestha

2021

Curr Res Nutr Food Sci

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“…18 As far as India is concerned, the situation is severe if we consider the fact that air pollution causes around 16000 premature deaths and more than 350000 new cases of childhood asthma every year. 19 As the spread of the virus became largescale, the people restricted themselves to their homes and all industrial and travel activities came to a standstill in lockdown. A considerable improvement was seen in the air quality and a drop in the release of harmful emissions caused by these activities.…”

Section: Air Pollution and Climatementioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental Footprint of Covid-19 in India: Short Term ‘Green Effect’ but Long Run Pitfall

Furqan

Farooq

2022

Curr. World Environ

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The outset of novel coronavirus namely SARS-CoV-2 or COVID-19 first came into the limelight in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and was soon declared a ‘global pandemic’ by W.H.O. in March 2020 after realizing its highly infectious and transmission capability and its potential to develop severe pneumonia-like respiratory infection amongst the humans. This declaration along with the rising number of COVID-19 infected cases and deaths globally led to the complete locking down of countries and cities, thereby limiting all unnecessary human movement and activities by way of imposition of strict measures to control and minimize the spread of the virus. This study reveals that this sudden halt of all major activities and movement resulted in providing a much needed temporary short-term relief to the environment from excessive exploitation at the hands of humans which has caused alarming levels of environmental pollution and GHG emissions, particularly in India. However, on the downside, it has also added a substantial burden on the environment by creating a panic-like situation leading to more than usual waste generation and an enormous challenge of its effective management and disposal which is most likely to persist in the longer run. On the whole, this review points out that years of damage done to the environment cannot be undone by although crucial but short-term relief resulting from such a temporary halt of activities. In the wake of this situation, an attempt has been made to discuss the future challenges that lie ahead of us and recommend possible solutions based on a holistic integrated planning approach which is the need of the hour to tackle the pertinent issue.

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“…All the factors lead to massive air pollution and poor ambient air quality of the city. A very recent study reveals that PM 10 and PM 2.5 are the primary threats for the city due to the high motorization of vehicles and massive construction works 13 . Besides, NO 2 also acts as secondary pollutants for the city and it is near the violation limit set by National ambient air quality standard (NAAQS) 15 .…”

Section: The Study Areamentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Kumar et al,(2020) also investigate that due to cut-off in anthropogenic emission due to lockdown from five major Indian cities, i.e., Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai resulted in a temporary diminution of fine particles 12 . Further, the lockdown had allowed us to adopt some new strategies like the need to update particulate standards, need to include new pollutants, e.g., Cl 2 /HCl (Hydrogen chloride and Chlorine) for measurement and also to define separate standards for North India due to different geographical proximity in order to achieve better air quality 13 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lockdown Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Improves Overall Air Quality: An Evidence Based Study from Siliguri Metropolitan, West Bengal, India

Roy

Singha

Majumdar

et al. 2020

Curr. World Environ

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About more than two months of lockdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic, from the end of March to the end of May in the Siliguri city of West Bengal, India, results in a momentous change in the overall air quality. The study aimed to identify the propensity of the concentration of pollutants during the period pre, during and post lockdown through trend analysis and to evaluate the alteration of air quality at different phases of lockdown (including Phase I, II, III and IV). Also, to compares the changes in the concentration of various pollutants, including Air quality index (AQI) for pre-during and pre-post lockdown periods. Data were obtained for the time-span of before, during and after lockdown and the entire lockdown period (from 25th March to 31st May) was divided into four phases to better comprehend the extent of air quality variation. Each phase of lockdown reveals different air quality scenarios, with a tendency to reduce during the first phase, increase by the third phase, and again lessens to a minimum at the fourth phase. The result shows a significant reduction in the concentration of Particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) (upto -66% respectively), Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) (upto -46%), Sulphur dioxide (SO2) (upto -20%), Ammonia (NH3) (upto -19%) and AQI (upto -68%) during the lockdown period compared to before lockdown. On the other hand, overall Air quality was further improved after the lockdown as the concentration of the pollutants, including AQI, was further reduced to minimal. The changes for PM2.5 (upto -78%), PM10 (upto -76%), NO2 (upto -48%), SO2 (upto -40%), NH3 (upto -41%) and AQI (upto -80%) after the lockdown compared to the period of pre-lockdown. In contrast, the concentration of Ozone (O3) was increased by 21% and 25% for the same period. Similarly, the mean AQI of the city shows a poor AQI before lockdown, came to a satisfactory during the lockdown, which further changes to good air after the lockdown ended. Therefore, it is clear from the study that the lockdown has an impact on improving the overall air quality and further lockdown with appropriate planning in the future should be seen as an alternative solution to reducing excessive pollution.

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`New Normal’ of COVID-19: Need of New Environmental Standards

Cited by 6 publications

References 7 publications

COVID-19 Air Transmission and Precautions

COVID-19 Air Transmission and Precautions

Environmental Footprint of Covid-19 in India: Short Term ‘Green Effect’ but Long Run Pitfall

Lockdown Due to COVID-19 Pandemic Improves Overall Air Quality: An Evidence Based Study from Siliguri Metropolitan, West Bengal, India

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