Lockdowns have been imposed on many nations all around the world, including major cities such as New Delhi, Seoul and London. This was put into place to decrease the transmission and contraction of the coronavirus but this has also had another side effect: there have been unprecedented reductions in deadly air pollution around the world.
Major cities that have been impacted by the world's worst pollutants have seen large decreases in lethal particular matter by up to 55% from the previous year, during three-week lockdowns periods.
Researchers from IQAir (an international air statistics and technology company) has recently studied over ten major cities around the world. The nations studied are known for their numerous coronavirus cases and their COVID-19 lockdown policies. The study compared levels of harmful particulate matter known as PM2.5: this pollutant is smaller than 2.5μm in diameter and is considered extremely dangerous due to its ability to lodge deep within the lungs and be moved around the bloodstream efficiently and into other organs which can cause serious health risks.
Seven out of the ten cities studied saw significant improvements in air quality.
"Air pollution is already a global public health crisis, as it kills seven million people each year, according to the World Health Organization. Reducing global heat-trapping emissions is the best way to clean up our skies and prevent avoidable pollution-related deaths, scientists say" – WHO and CNN
The report's authors say that while they do expect air pollution to rise again when economies restart after coronavirus, "out of these extraordinary circumstances, we can see how changes in our society's activities can have a momentous impact on our environment and the air we breathe," said IQAir's marketing specialist Kelsey Duska.
