Impact of COVID-19 on PM <sub>2.5</sub> Pollution in Fastest-Growing Megacity Dhaka, Bangladesh

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Abstract

Objective:

The purpose of the research was to investigate and identify the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on fine particulate matter (PM _2.5) pollution in Dhaka, Bangladesh by using ground-based observation data.

Methods:

The research assessed air quality during the COVID-19 pandemic for PM _2.5 from January 1, 2017 to August 1, 2020. The research considered pollution in pre-COVID-19 (January 1 to March 23), during COVID-19 (March 24 to May 30), and post-COVID-19 (May 31 to August 1) lockdown periods with current (2020) and historical (2017-2019) data.

Results:

PM _2.5 pollution followed a similar yearly trend in year 2017-2020. The average concentration for PM _2.5 was found 87.47 μg/m ³ in the study period. Significant PM _2.5 declines were observed in the current COVID-19 lockdown period compared with historical data: 11.31% reduction with an absolute decrease of 7.15 μg/m ³.

Conclusions:

The findings of the research provide an overview of how the COVID-19 pandemic affects air pollution. The results will provide initial evidence regarding human behavioral changes and emission controls. This research will also suggest avenues for further study to link the findings with health outcomes.

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Most cited references 11

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Air pollution and COVID-19 mortality in the United States: Strengths and limitations of an ecological regression analysis

X. Wu, R. C. Nethery, M. Sabath … (2020)

We describe the challenges and opportunities of analyzing links between exposure to air pollution and vulnerability to COVID-19.

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COVID-19 lockdowns cause global air pollution declines

Zander S. Venter, Kristin Aunan, Sourangsu Chowdhury … (2020)

The lockdown response to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has caused an unprecedented reduction in global economic and transport activity. We test the hypothesis that this has reduced tropospheric and ground-level air pollution concentrations, using satellite data and a network of >10,000 air quality stations. After accounting for the effects of meteorological variability, we find declines in the population-weighted concentration of ground-level nitrogen dioxide (NO 2 : 60% with 95% CI 48 to 72%), and fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 : 31%; 95% CI: 17 to 45%), with marginal increases in ozone (O 3 : 4%; 95% CI: −2 to 10%) in 34 countries during lockdown dates up until 15 May. Except for ozone, satellite measurements of the troposphere indicate much smaller reductions, highlighting the spatial variability of pollutant anomalies attributable to complex NO x chemistry and long-distance transport of fine particulate matter with a diameter less than 2.5 µm (PM 2.5 ). By leveraging Google and Apple mobility data, we find empirical evidence for a link between global vehicle transportation declines and the reduction of ambient NO 2 exposure. While the state of global lockdown is not sustainable, these findings allude to the potential for mitigating public health risk by reducing “business as usual” air pollutant emissions from economic activities. Explore trends here: https://nina.earthengine.app/view/lockdown-pollution .

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Does lockdown reduce air pollution? Evidence from 44 cities in northern China

Rui Bao, Achen Zhang (2020)

Responding to the ongoing novel coronavirus (agent of COVID-19) outbreak, China implemented “the largest quarantine in human history” in an attempt to prevent the spread of the virus on 23 January 2020. Human mobility and relevant production and consumption activities have since decreased significantly. As a likely side effect of this decrease, many regions have recorded significant reductions in air pollution. We employed daily air pollution data and Intracity Migration Index (IMI) data form Baidu between 1 January and 21 March 2020 for 44 cities in northern China to examine whether, how, and to what extent travel restrictions affected air quality. On the basis of this quantitative analysis, we reached the following conclusions: (1) The reduction of air pollution was strongly associated with travel restrictions during this pandemic—on average, the air quality index (AQI) decreased by 7.80%, and five air pollutants (i.e., SO2, PM2.5, PM10, NO2, and CO) decreased by 6.76%, 5.93%, 13.66%, 24.67%, and 4.58%, respectively. (2) Mechanism analysis illustrated that the lockdowns of 44 cities reduced human movements by 69.85%, and a reduction in the AQI, PM2.5, and CO was partially mediated by human mobility, and SO2, PM10, and NO2 were completely mediated. (3) Our findings highlight the importance of understanding the role of green production and consumption.

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Author and article information

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Disaster Med Public Health Prep

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Disaster Med Public Health Prep

Journal ID (publisher-id): DMP

Title: Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness

Publisher: Cambridge University Press (New York, USA )

ISSN (Print): 1935-7893

ISSN (Electronic): 1938-744X

Publication date (Electronic, pub): 30 April 2021

Pages: 1-4

Affiliations

[ 1 ]Department of Urban and Regional Planning, Khulna University of Engineering & Technology (KUET) , Khulna, Bangladesh

[ 2 ]REACH Initiative, Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh

Author notes

Corresponding author: Showmitra Kumar Sarkar, Email: mail4dhrubo@ 123456gmail.com .

Author information

Showmitra Kumar Sarkar https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5928-7577

Article

Publisher Item ID: S1935789321001312

DOI: 10.1017/dmp.2021.131

PMC ID: 8193182

PubMed ID: 33926600

SO-VID: 7ec9966e-d737-4a0b-a31a-018ab9bf1464

License:

This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence ( http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

History

Date received : 22 September 2020

Date revision received : 06 April 2021

Date accepted : 17 April 2021

Page count

Figures: 1, Tables: 1, References: 15, Pages: 4

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