The COVID-19 crisis and subsequent lockdown measures have led to a dramatic reduction of harmful air pollutants across major cities in India, finds a new study from the University of Surrey.
A team of 10 interdisciplinary researchers from the University of Surrey’s renowned Global Centre for Clean Air Research (GCARE), including PhD students and post-doctoral researchers, have united to develop a rapid assessment of the impact COVID-19 has had on air quality.
Figures from the World Health Organisation show the ongoing pandemic has caused more than 477,000 deaths worldwide as of June 2020, 14,000 of which occurred in India. On 25 March 2020, a complete lockdown of internal and external boarders together with social isolation measures came into effect in India, affecting the lives and mobility of its 1.3 billion population.
In this recent study, published by Sustainable Cities and Society, researchers from Surrey’s GCARE studied the levels of harmful fine particulate matter (PM2.5) originating from vehicles and other non-vehicular sources in five Indian cities – Chennai, Delhi, Hyderabad, Kolkata, and Mumbai – from the start of the lockdown period until 11 May 2020.
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