Factors determining the diffusion of COVID-19 and suggested strategy to prevent future accelerated viral infectivity similar to COVID.

Coronavirus diseases 2019 (COVID-19) is transmitted worldwide in over a very short time, as it was originated in late 2019 from Wuhan city, China. To reduce the possible effects due to COVID-19, some sort of lockdown activities have been applied in many countries. In this regard, the outcomes reported bonus benefits to the natural environment showing a significant decrease in air pollution worldwide due to COVID-19. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and European Space Agency (ESA) released air pollution data for Asian and European countries to assess the significant changes in air quality. The main objective of the study is to compare the air quality data released by international agencies before and after the novel coronavirus pandemic.

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COVID-19: air pollution remains low as people stay at home.

Corona virus diseases-2019 (COVID-19), an infectious disease identified in late December, 2019, in Wuhan city of China, was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization. Most countries including India have announced some sort of lockdown to reduce the effects of COVID-19 and discontinue the transmission of novel coronavirus. Major negative effects on the social and surrounding environment have been reported due to COVID-19, however positive effects have also been observed with respect to air quality. Secondary results have been taken from National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), indicating significant reduction (50%) in air quality of Indian region. This perspective highlights the effects of the lockdown due to COVID-19 on aerosol optical thickness specifically in India.

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The Influence of COVID-19 on Air Quality in India: A Boon or Inutile.

The fatal novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic disease smashes the normal tempo of global socio-economic and cultural livelihood. Most of the countries impose a lockdown system with social distancing measures to arrest the rapid transmission of this virus into the human body. The objective of this study is to examine the status of air quality during and pre-COVID-19 lockdown and to recommend some long-term sustainable environmental management plan. The pollution data like PM10, PM2.5, O3, SO2, NO2 and CO have been obtained from State Pollution Control Board under Govt. of West Bengal. Similarly, various land surface temperature (LST) maps have been prepared using LANDSAT-8 OLI and LANDSAT-7 ETM + images of USGS. The maps of NO2 and aerosol concentration over Indian subcontinent have been taken from ESA and NASA. The digital thematic maps and diagrams have been depicted by Grapher 13 and Arc GIS 10.3 platforms. The result shows that the pollutants like CO, NO2 and SO2 are significantly decreased, while the average level of O3 has been slightly increased in 2020 during the lockdown due to close-down of all industrial and transport activities. Meanwhile, around 17.5% was the mean reduction of PM10 and PM2.5 during lockdown compared with previous years owing to complete stop of vehicles movement, burning of biomass and dust particles from the construction works. This study recommends some air pollution-tolerant plant species (in urban vacant spaces and roof tops) for long-term cohabitation among environment, society and development.

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Significant impacts of COVID-19 lockdown on urban air pollution in Kolkata (India) and amelioration of environmental health.

Air pollution (AP) is one of the major causes of health risks as it leads to widespread morbidity and mortality each year. Its environmental impacts include acid rains, reduced visibility, but more importantly and significantly, it affects human health. The price tag of not managing AP is seen in the rise of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), cardiovascular disease, and respiratory ailments like asthma and chronic bronchitis. But as the world battles the corona pandemic, COVID-19 lockdown has abruptly halted human activity, leading to a significant reduction in AP levels. The effect of this reduction is captured by reduced cases of morbidity and mortality associated with air pollution. The current study aims to monetarily quantify the decline in health impacts due to reduced AP levels under lockdown scenario, as against business as usual, for four cities-Delhi, London, Paris, and Wuhan. The exposure assessment with respect to pollutants like particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10), NO2, and SO2 are evaluated. Value of statistical life (VSL), cost of illness (CoI), and per capita income (PCI) for disability-adjusted life years (DALY) are used to monetize the health impacts for the year 2019 and 2020, considering the respective period of COVID-19 lockdown of four cities. The preventive benefits related to reduced AP due to lockdown is evaluated in comparison to economic damage sustained by these four cities. This helps in understanding the magnitude of actual damage and brings out a more holistic picture of the damages related to lockdown.

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Valuation of air pollution externalities: comparative assessment of economic damage and emission reduction under COVID-19 lockdown.

A review on recent progress in observations, and health effects of bioaerosols.

Bio-aerosol is an emerging pollutant of the technological age. Air pollution related episodes that are a region-specific phenomenon in our atmosphere, with bio-aerosols being the main area of the problem. The present research was focused on assessing the particulate, and culturable concentration of bacteria at five different spatially located sites in the Rajkot city and surroundings, in the western part of India. The highest (108.33 × 109 CFU m−3) and lowest (318 × 103 CFU m−3) bacterial concentrations were found in dump site and residential area, respectively. With reference to particulate concentration, higher (101.79 ± 8.09) concentrations were reported in the industrial area than other sampling locations. All sampling sites under the present study displayed greater variability of bacteria than that of particle concentration. The growth potential of various bacterial isolates from perspective bioaerosol was measured spectroscopically by measuring OD at 600 nm in rich medium. The isolate 1A displayed significantly higher growth compared to all other isolates after 24 h. Outcomes of the current work suggested that bacterial concentration was observed in the respirable fraction (< 2.5 μm) and so had the potential to penetrate the deeper part of the lungs. In addition, meteorological parameters (i.e., wind speed, temperature, and relative humidity) were measured to understand whether they had any effect on biotic matter. The temperature and relative humidity are the most important meteorological parameters responsible for the enhanced viability of bacteria. Land use and land cover feature were also studied to understand the spatial characteristics of bio-aerosol in the study area. This viewpoint summarizes available information on bio-aerosols and its impact on human health, devising strategies to understand characteristics of bio-aerosols and emphasizing the vital gaps in available knowledge such as to develop a relationship between biological agents and solid/liquid or a mixture of both to the assessment of dispersion behavior and toxicological nature during exposure.

Evaluating the colonization and distribution of fungal and bacterial bio-aerosol in Rajkot, western India using multi-proxy approach

Fungal spores in the fine particle is an emerging pollutant of the technological age, which can create adversely effect on human health and their surrounding environment. Probably the first time in the western part of India, an investigation was organized to assess the spatial distribution of PM2.5 associated fungal spore concentration levels in an urban city. Five urban locations selected to cover probably all major areas of a city to conduct the study by using fine particulate sampler with 24 hours’ interval. Highest (101.79 ± 8.09 µg m−3) concentrations of PM2.5 have been observed in the industrial area only. The highest (8.0 × 1013 Colony-forming unit (CFU) m−3) in industrial area and lowest (2.0 × 108 CFU m−3) fungal concentrations were found in the residential area. Spores of seven fungal species (i.e., Aspergillus, Candida, Fusarium, Penicillium, Alternaria, Cephalosporium and Mucor) were significantly predominant in all selected locations in the urban area. In these views, Aspergillus, Candida and Penicillium, and Fusarium species were the dominant fungi in Industrial, slaughter house and dump site, respectively. The highest concentration of fungal spores was reported in industrial area and poultry farm as compared to other locations. Outcomes of the current work suggested that fungal spores were observed in the respirable fraction (<2.5 μm) and so had the potential to penetrate the deeper part of the lungs. In addition, the meteorological parameters i.e., temperature and relative humidity, were recorded to understand the relationship between meteorology and enhanced viability of fungal spores.

Spatial Variation of Airborne Allergenic Fungal Spores in the Ambient PM 2.5 —A Study in Rajkot City, Western Part of India

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Charmi Humbal

Papers

A review on recent progress in observations, and health effects of bioaerosols.

Evaluating the colonization and distribution of fungal and bacterial bio-aerosol in Rajkot, western India using multi-proxy approach

Spatial Variation of Airborne Allergenic Fungal Spores in the Ambient PM 2.5 —A Study in Rajkot City, Western Part of India

Assessment of Dispersion, Retention Time and Fraction of PM10-20, and PM0.23-1 in Iron Ore Mines