Review
Version 1
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Good in The Worst: COVID-19 Restrictions and Ease in Global Air Pollution
Naser A. Anjum
Version 1
: Received: 5 April 2020 / Approved: 6 April 2020 / Online: 6 April 2020 (15:48:46 CEST)
How to cite: Anjum, N.A. Good in The Worst: COVID-19 Restrictions and Ease in Global Air Pollution. Preprints 2020, 2020040069 (doi: 10.20944/preprints202004.0069.v1). Anjum, N.A. Good in The Worst: COVID-19 Restrictions and Ease in Global Air Pollution. Preprints 2020, 2020040069 (doi: 10.20944/preprints202004.0069.v1).
Abstract
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), known to cause 2019-coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic is a zoonotic coronavirus and crosses species to infect human populations, where an efficient transmission of virus occurs human-to-human. Nationwide lockdown is being adopted to stop public transport, keep people at their homes and out of their work, and maintain social distancing. In turn, large geographic areas in the world (including China, Italy, Spain, and USA) has been almost halted. This temporary halt is significantly slashing down the air pollution (air pollutants and warming gases) in most cities across the world. This paper: (i) introduces both COVID-19 and air pollution; (ii) overviews the relation of air pollution with respiratory/lung diseases; (iii) compiles and highlights major data appeared in media and journals reporting lowering of air pollution in major cities those have been highly impacted by the COVID-19; and also (iv) lists the way forward in the present context. Because COVID-19 is an ongoing pandemic and currently far from over, strong conclusions could not be drawn with very limited data at present. The temporary slashed down global air pollution as a result of COVID-19 restrictions are expected to stimulate the researchers, policy makers and governments for the judicious use of resources; thereby minimise the global emissions, and maintain their economies once the pandemic eases. On the other, lifting of the nationwide lockdown and eventual normalisation of the temporarily halted sectors may also reverse the currently COVID-19 pandemic-led significantly slashed down global air pollution that could make the future respiratory health crisis grimmer.
Subject Areas
coronavirus; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19; respiratory diseases; air pollution
Copyright: This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
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1. https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/9/3870
2. https://www.candidsciencedirective.com/post/did-covid-19-quarantine-help-resolve-our-global-air-pollution-crisis