Global air quality and covid-19 pandemic: Do we breathe cleaner air?

Torkmahalleh M.A. Akhmetvaliyeva Z. Omran A.D. Omran F.D. Kazemitabar M. Naseri M. Naseri M. Sharifi H. Malekipirbazari M. Adotey E.K. Gorjinezhad S. Eghtesadi N. Sabanov S. Alastuey A. Andrade M.F. Buonanno G. Carbone S. Cárdenas-Fuentes D.E. Cassee F.R. Dai Q. Henríquez A. Hopke P.K. Keronen P. Khwaja H.A. Kim J. Kulmala M. Kumar P. Kushta J. Kuula J. Massagué J. Mitchell T. Mooibroek D. Morawska L. Niemi J.V. Ngagine S.H. Norman M. Oyama B. Oyola P. Öztürk F. Petäjä T. Querol X. Rashidi Y. Reyes F. Ross-Jones M. Salthammer T. Savvides C. Stabile L. Sjöberg K. Söderlund K. Raman R.S. Timonen H. Umezawa M. Viana M. Xie S.
April 2021 AAGR Aerosol and Air Quality Research

Aerosol and Air Quality Research
2021 #21 Issue 4

The global spread of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has challenged most countries worldwide. It was quickly recognized that reduced activities (lockdowns) during the Coronavirus Disease of 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic produced major changes in air quality. Our objective was to assess the impacts of COVID-19 lockdowns on ground-level PM2.5, NO2, and O3 concentrations on a global scale. We obtained data from 34 countries, 141 cities, and 458 air monitoring stations on 5 continents (few data from Africa). On a global average basis, a 34.0% reduction in NO2 concentration and a 15.0% reduction in PM2.5 were estimated during the strict lockdown period (until April 30, 2020). Global average O3 concentration increased by 86.0% during this same period. Individual country and continent-wise comparisons have been made between lockdown and business-as-usual periods. Universally, NO2 was the pollutant most affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. These effects were likely because its emissions were from sources that were typically restricted (i.e., surface traffic and non-essential industries) by the lockdowns and its short lifetime in the atmosphere. Our results indicate that lockdown measures and resulting reduced emissions reduced exposure to most harmful pollutants and could provide global-scale health benefits. However, the increased O3 may have substantially reduced those benefits and more detailed health assessments are required to accurately quantify the health gains. At the same, these restrictions were obtained at substantial economic costs and with other health issues (depression, suicide, spousal abuse, drug overdoses, etc.). Thus, any similar reductions in air pollution would need to be obtained without these extensive economic and other consequences produced by the imposed activity reductions.

COVID-19 pandemic , Global air quality , NO2 , O3 , PM2.5 , SARS-CoV-2

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Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Iran University of Science and Technology, Tehran, Iran
Department of Ambient Air Quality, Rizgard Payesh Asman LLP., Tehran, 1484667536, Iran
Department of Industrial Engineering, Bilkent University, Bilkent, Ankara, 06800, Turkey
Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering, University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, via Di Biasio 43, Cassino, 03043, Italy
Department of mining, School of Mining and Geosciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, Kazakhstan
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC), Spanish Research Council-CSIC, C/ Jordi Girona 18, Barcelona, 08034, Spain
Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Science, University of São Paulo, Brazil
International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health, Science and Engineering Faculty, Queensland University of Science and Technology, 2 George Street, Brisbane, 4001, QLD, Australia
Federal University of Uberlandia, Agrarian Sciences Institute, Uberlandia, Brazil
School of Engineering and Sciences, Tecnológico de Monterrey, Monterrey, Mexico
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), PO box 1, Bilthoven, 3720 BA, Netherlands
Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences, Utrecht University, Yalelaan 2, Utrecht, 3584 CM, Netherlands
State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ambient Air Particulate Matter Pollution Prevention and Control, College of Environmental Science and Engineering, Nankai University, Tianjin, 300350, China
Centro Mario Molina Chile, Antonio Bellet 292/602, Santiago, Chile
Department of Public Health Sciences, University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, 14642, NY, United States
Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Physics, University of Helsinki, PO. Box 64, 00014, Finland
Wadsworth Center, New York State Department of Health, Albany, NY, United States
Department of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University at Albany, Albany, NY, United States
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering and Digital Sciences, Nazarbayev University, Nur-Sultan, 010000, Kazakhstan
Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences, University of Surrey, Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH, United Kingdom
The Cyprus Institute, Climate and Atmosphere Research Center (CARE-C), Nicosia, 2121, Cyprus
Atmospheric Composition Research, Finnish Meteorological Institute, P.O.Box 503, Helsinki, 00101, Finland
Environmental Science Department, Greater Wellington Regional Council, Manners St, Wellington, 6142, New Zealand
Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY), PO Box 100, Helsinki, FI-00066, Finland
Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie de lAtmosphère, Université du Littoral Côte dOpale, Dunkerque, 59140, France
Environment and health administration, City of Stockholm, Stockholm, S-104 20, Sweden
Environmental Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University (BAIBU), Golkoy Campus, Bolu, 14030, Turkey
Environmental Sciences Research Institute, Shahid Beheshti University, Tehran, Iran
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency, Stockholm, Sweden
Department of Material Analysis and Indoor Chemistry, Fraunhofer WKI, Braunschweig, 38108, Germany
Air Quality Section, Department of Labour Inspection, Ministry of Labour Welfare and Social Insurance of the Republic of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus
Swedish Environmental Research Institute, Environmental Intelligence, Gothenburg, Sweden
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Bhopal, India
Center for Research on Environment and Sustainable Technologies, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research Bhopal, Bhopal Bypass Road, Bhauri, Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, 462 066, India
Department of Materials Science and Technology, Faculty of Industrial Science and Technology, Tokyo University of Science, Tokyo, 125-8585, Japan
Research & Evaluation Unit (RIMU), Auckland Council, Auckland, New Zealand

Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering
School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department of Ambient Air Quality
Department of Industrial Engineering
Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering
Department of mining
Institute of Environmental Assessment and Water Research (IDAEA-CSIC)
Institute of Astronomy
International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health
Federal University of Uberlandia
School of Engineering and Sciences
National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM)
Institute for Risk Assessment Sciences
State Environmental Protection Key Laboratory of Urban Ambient Air Particulate Matter Pollution Prevention and Control
Centro Mario Molina Chile
Department of Public Health Sciences
Institute for Atmospheric and Earth System Research (INAR)/Physics
Wadsworth Center
Department of Environmental Health Sciences
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE)
The Cyprus Institute
Atmospheric Composition Research
Environmental Science Department
Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (HSY)
Laboratoire de Physico-Chimie de lAtmosphère
Environment and health administration
Environmental Engineering Department
Environmental Sciences Research Institute
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Department of Material Analysis and Indoor Chemistry
Air Quality Section
Swedish Environmental Research Institute
Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences
Center for Research on Environment and Sustainable Technologies
Department of Materials Science and Technology
Research & Evaluation Unit (RIMU)

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