Attenuation of Air Pollutants: A Blessing during COVID-19 Outbreak

Abstract

A novel infectious coronavirus disease (COVID-19) identified in late 2019 has now been considered as a global pandemic by World Health Organization (WHO). The COVID-19 outbreak has shown some positive impacts on the natural environment and nature gets a time to assimilate human annoyance. During lockdown air quality was significantly improved due to shutdown of industrial operation and lower traffic. Emission of NO2 and carbon dioxide (CO2) dropped significantly worldwide. NO2 levels in India decreased between 40 and 50% at the time of lockdown. In Europe, CO2 levels are expected to drop by 390 million tons. In the USA, carbon emissions also dropped around 40% during lockdown. A decrease in key air pollutants (PM2.5, NO2, SO2, and CO) in different cities in China from 5.93 to 24.67% during the lockdown. In Bangladesh, the Air Quality Index (AQI) has also been decreased by more than one-third compared to its extent in the previous year. Ozone (O3) concentration in Bangladesh has increased during the lockdown period. An increment in ozone concentration was observed due to a drastic reduction in NO2 up to 50% worldwide. It is widely perceived to dump contaminated PPEs and healthcare waste due to improper management of waste resultant the spread of viral disease in the environment. It showed the pollution source control can attenuate the air quality and a significant improvement in air quality can be achieved in future if better pollution control policy are strictly executed.