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Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Air Quality Index (AQI) During Partial Lockdown in Karachi Pakistan

Received: 17 July 2020     Accepted: 31 July 2020     Published: 27 August 2020
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Abstract

A novel infectious disease (COVID-19) was identified in the late months of 2019, with human to human transmission, and rapidly spread in the world, which now has turned into a global pandemic. The coronavirus (COVID-19) is extremely threatening world public health problem. Up-till now, more than 200 countries and states had been affected by this pandemic. The number of contagions and deaths still increasing day by day. Different steps have been taken worldwide to control COVID-19. Countries all over the world have applied specific type of lockdown in order to control / slow down the intensity of infection and mitigate it. This lockdown due to COVID-19 not only smashed the economic growth but also exert a positive impact on the environment and improves the level of air quality in the city/country. This study was carried out for investigation of air quality before and during the periods of lockdown levied to reduce the spread of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the environment of Karachi city. Concentrations of four pollutant parameters (PM10, SO2, NO2 and CO) were used to calculate the results according to the criteria of Air Quality Index (AQI). We have analyzed data collected from fourteen different monitoring locations along the busy roads in commercial, residential and industrial areas of Karachi during the lockdown period. Data were compared to the five-year monthly mean and to the four-week before the partial lockdown. The results proved that during lockdown air quality is significantly improved. Among the selected pollutants, concentrations of PM10 have observed maximum reduction (50%) in comparison to the before lockdown period. In compare to the last year (i.e. 2019) during the said time period the reduction of PM10 is as high as about 60%. Among other pollutants, SO2, NO2 and CO the level have also reduced about 60-70% during lockdown period. About 40% to 50% improvement in air quality is identified just after four days of commencing lockdown. Overall, the study is assumed to be a useful tool to the regulatory bodies to control the air quality and also explained its relation to health hazards to provide awareness in the society.

Published in Journal of Health and Environmental Research (Volume 6, Issue 3)
DOI 10.11648/j.jher.20200603.17
Page(s) 93-97
Creative Commons

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

Copyright

Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Science Publishing Group

Keywords

Air Pollution, COVID-19, Lock Down

References
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[5] S. Bilgin, O. Kurtkulagi, G. B. Kahveci, T. T. Duman, “Millennium pandemic: a review of coronavirus disease (COVID-19)”, Exp Biomed Res., vol. 3 (2), pp. 117–125, 2020.
[6] F. Dutheil, S. J. Baker, V. Navel, “COVID-19 as a factor influencing air pollution?”, Environ. Pollut. pp. 114466, 2020.
[7] F. Jiang, L. Deng, L. Zhang, Y. Cai, C. W. Cheung, Z. Xia, “Review of the clinical characteristics of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)”, J. Gen. Intern. Med., pp. 11606-020, 2020.
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[12] S. H. Sajjad, N. Blond, A. Clapper, R. Asif, “Preliminary Study of Urbanization, Fossil fuels consumptions and CO2 emission in Karachi”, Afric. J. of Biotechnol., vol. 9 (13), pp. 1941-1948, 2010.
[13] U.S. EPA (2012), revised air quality standards for particle pollution and updates to the Air Quality Index (AQI). Office of Air Quality Planning and Standards, EPA 454/R99-010.
[14] B. R. Gurjar, T. M. Butler, M. G. Lawrence, J. Lelieveld, “Evaluation of Emissions and Air Quality in Megacities”, Atmospheric Environment, vol. 42, pp. 1593-1606, 2008.
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[16] A. Tobías, C. Carnerero, C. Reche, J. Massagué, M. Via, M. C. Minguillón, A. Alastuey, X. Querol, “Changes in air quality during the lockdown in Barcelona (Spain) one month into the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic” Sci. Total Environ., vol. 726, pp. 138540, July 2020.
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Cite This Article
  • APA Style

    Akhtar Shareef, Durdana Rais Hashmi. (2020). Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Air Quality Index (AQI) During Partial Lockdown in Karachi Pakistan. Journal of Health and Environmental Research, 6(3), 93-97. https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20200603.17

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    ACS Style

    Akhtar Shareef; Durdana Rais Hashmi. Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Air Quality Index (AQI) During Partial Lockdown in Karachi Pakistan. J. Health Environ. Res. 2020, 6(3), 93-97. doi: 10.11648/j.jher.20200603.17

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    AMA Style

    Akhtar Shareef, Durdana Rais Hashmi. Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Air Quality Index (AQI) During Partial Lockdown in Karachi Pakistan. J Health Environ Res. 2020;6(3):93-97. doi: 10.11648/j.jher.20200603.17

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  • @article{10.11648/j.jher.20200603.17,
      author = {Akhtar Shareef and Durdana Rais Hashmi},
      title = {Impacts of COVID-19 Pandemic on Air Quality Index (AQI) During Partial Lockdown in Karachi Pakistan},
      journal = {Journal of Health and Environmental Research},
      volume = {6},
      number = {3},
      pages = {93-97},
      doi = {10.11648/j.jher.20200603.17},
      url = {https://doi.org/10.11648/j.jher.20200603.17},
      eprint = {https://article.sciencepublishinggroup.com/pdf/10.11648.j.jher.20200603.17},
      abstract = {A novel infectious disease (COVID-19) was identified in the late months of 2019, with human to human transmission, and rapidly spread in the world, which now has turned into a global pandemic. The coronavirus (COVID-19) is extremely threatening world public health problem. Up-till now, more than 200 countries and states had been affected by this pandemic. The number of contagions and deaths still increasing day by day. Different steps have been taken worldwide to control COVID-19. Countries all over the world have applied specific type of lockdown in order to control / slow down the intensity of infection and mitigate it. This lockdown due to COVID-19 not only smashed the economic growth but also exert a positive impact on the environment and improves the level of air quality in the city/country. This study was carried out for investigation of air quality before and during the periods of lockdown levied to reduce the spread of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the environment of Karachi city. Concentrations of four pollutant parameters (PM10, SO2, NO2 and CO) were used to calculate the results according to the criteria of Air Quality Index (AQI). We have analyzed data collected from fourteen different monitoring locations along the busy roads in commercial, residential and industrial areas of Karachi during the lockdown period. Data were compared to the five-year monthly mean and to the four-week before the partial lockdown. The results proved that during lockdown air quality is significantly improved. Among the selected pollutants, concentrations of PM10 have observed maximum reduction (50%) in comparison to the before lockdown period. In compare to the last year (i.e. 2019) during the said time period the reduction of PM10 is as high as about 60%. Among other pollutants, SO2, NO2 and CO the level have also reduced about 60-70% during lockdown period. About 40% to 50% improvement in air quality is identified just after four days of commencing lockdown. Overall, the study is assumed to be a useful tool to the regulatory bodies to control the air quality and also explained its relation to health hazards to provide awareness in the society.},
     year = {2020}
    }
    

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  • TY  - JOUR
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    AU  - Akhtar Shareef
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    DO  - 10.11648/j.jher.20200603.17
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    JF  - Journal of Health and Environmental Research
    JO  - Journal of Health and Environmental Research
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    AB  - A novel infectious disease (COVID-19) was identified in the late months of 2019, with human to human transmission, and rapidly spread in the world, which now has turned into a global pandemic. The coronavirus (COVID-19) is extremely threatening world public health problem. Up-till now, more than 200 countries and states had been affected by this pandemic. The number of contagions and deaths still increasing day by day. Different steps have been taken worldwide to control COVID-19. Countries all over the world have applied specific type of lockdown in order to control / slow down the intensity of infection and mitigate it. This lockdown due to COVID-19 not only smashed the economic growth but also exert a positive impact on the environment and improves the level of air quality in the city/country. This study was carried out for investigation of air quality before and during the periods of lockdown levied to reduce the spread of a novel coronavirus (COVID-19) in the environment of Karachi city. Concentrations of four pollutant parameters (PM10, SO2, NO2 and CO) were used to calculate the results according to the criteria of Air Quality Index (AQI). We have analyzed data collected from fourteen different monitoring locations along the busy roads in commercial, residential and industrial areas of Karachi during the lockdown period. Data were compared to the five-year monthly mean and to the four-week before the partial lockdown. The results proved that during lockdown air quality is significantly improved. Among the selected pollutants, concentrations of PM10 have observed maximum reduction (50%) in comparison to the before lockdown period. In compare to the last year (i.e. 2019) during the said time period the reduction of PM10 is as high as about 60%. Among other pollutants, SO2, NO2 and CO the level have also reduced about 60-70% during lockdown period. About 40% to 50% improvement in air quality is identified just after four days of commencing lockdown. Overall, the study is assumed to be a useful tool to the regulatory bodies to control the air quality and also explained its relation to health hazards to provide awareness in the society.
    VL  - 6
    IS  - 3
    ER  - 

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Author Information
  • Centre for Environmental Studies, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories Complex, Karachi, Pakistan

  • Centre for Environmental Studies, Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research Laboratories Complex, Karachi, Pakistan

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