Garg Anchal, Kumar Arvind, Gupta N C
University School of Environment Management, Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University, Sector- 16 C, Dwarka, New Delhi, 110078, India.
Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India.
J Hazard Mater Lett. 2021 Nov;2:100010. doi: 10.1016/j.hazl.2020.100010. Epub 2020 Dec 26.
Indian government announced the complete lockdown from 25 March, 2020 for all outdoor activities across the country due to containment of COVID-19. This study is an attempt to assess the impacts of lockdown on ambient air quality in five cities of Indian National Capital Region including Delhi, Gurugram, Noida, Ghaziabad and Faridabad. In this context, the data of air pollutants (PM, PM, NOx, NO, NO, SO, NH, SO, CO, and CH) from 36 locations of the study area were analyzed from 1 March to 1 May, 2020. The results showed that PM and PM level decreased upto 55-65 %. NOx and NO have shown maximum reduction (∼ 50-78 %). Similarly, consistent and significant reduction in other air pollutants such as SO (∼33 %), CO (∼45 %), NH (∼27 %) and CH (∼53 %) has been observed. During lockdown Air Quality Index (AQI) shows improvement as its value significantly decreased (∼ 45 %-68 %). An interesting feature observed that during first week of lockdown O decreased but later it increased by ∼19-27%. The study suggests that this pandemic gives lessons for interventions for urban air pollution mitigation in controlling the health impact due to urban air pollution.
印度政府宣布，由于新冠疫情防控，自2020年3月25日起在全国范围内全面封锁所有户外活动。本研究旨在评估封锁对印度国家首都地区五个城市（包括德里、古尔冈、诺伊达、加济阿巴德和法里达巴德）环境空气质量的影响。在此背景下，对研究区域36个地点在2020年3月1日至5月1日期间的空气污染物（PM、PM、氮氧化物、NO、NO、SO、NH、SO、CO和CH）数据进行了分析。结果表明，PM和PM水平下降了55%-65%。氮氧化物和NO的降幅最大（约50%-78%）。同样，其他空气污染物如SO（约33%）、CO（约45%）、NH（约27%）和CH（约53%）也出现了持续且显著的下降。在封锁期间，空气质量指数（AQI）有所改善，其值显著下降（约45%-68%）。一个有趣的现象是，在封锁的第一周O有所下降，但后来又上升了约19%-27%。该研究表明，这场疫情为减轻城市空气污染的干预措施提供了经验教训，有助于控制城市空气污染对健康的影响。
