School Of Environment And Earth Sciences

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Author: search.filters.author.Mangla, Sherry

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    Impact of environmental indicators on the COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi, India
    (MDPI, 2021-08-09T00:00:00) Mangla, Sherry; Pathak, Ashok Kumar; Arshad, Mohd.; Ghosh, Doyel; Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Garg, Vinod Kumar; Haque, Ubydul
    Currently, there is a massive debate on whether meteorological and air quality parameters play a crucial role in the transmission of COVID-19 across the globe. With this background, this study aims to evaluate the impact of air pollutants (PM2.5, PM10, CO, NO, NO2, and O3) and meteorological parameters (temperature, humidity, wind speed, and rainfall) on the spread and mortality due to the COVID-19 outbreak in Delhi from 14 Mar 2020 to 3 May 2021. The Spearman�s rank correlation method employed on secondary data shows a significant correlation between the COVID-19 incidences and the PM2.5, PM10, CO, NO, NO2, and O3 concentrations. Amongst the four meteorological parameters, temperature is strongly correlated with COVID-19 infections and deaths during the three phases, i.e., pre-lockdown (14 March 2020 to 24 March 2020) (r = 0.79), lockdown (25 March 2020 to 31 May 2020) (r = 0.87), and unlock (1 June 2020 to 3 May 2021) (r = ?0.75), explaining the variability of about 20�30% in the lockdown period and 18�19% in the unlock period. NO2 explained the maximum variability of 10% and 7% in the total confirmed cases and deaths among the air pollutants, respectively. A generalized linear model could explain 80% and 71% of the variability in confirmed cases and deaths during the lockdown and 82% and 81% variability in the unlock phase, respectively. These findings suggest that these factors may contribute to the transmission of the COVID-19 and its associated deaths. The study results would enhance the ongoing research related to the influence of environmental factors. They would be helpful for policymakers in managing the outbreak of COVID-19 in Delhi, India. � 2021 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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    Pre-to-post lockdown impact on air quality and the role of environmental factors in spreading the COVID-19 cases - a study from a worst-hit state of India
    (Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH, 2020-10-09T00:00:00) Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Mangla, Sherry; Pathak, Ashok Kumar; Sal�mao, Gabriel Negreiros; Sarkar, Dibyendu
    The present�study aims to�examine the changes in air quality during different phases of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the lockdown (LD1�4) and unlock period (UL1�2) (post-lockdown) as compared to�pre-lockdown (PL1�3) and to�establish the relationships of the environmental and demographic variables with COVID-19 cases in the state of Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in India. Atmospheric pollutants such as PM2.5, PM10, NOx, and CO were substantially reduced during the lockdown and unlock�phases with the greatest reduction in cities having larger traffic volumes. Compared with the immediate pre-lockdown period (PL3), the averaged PM2.5 and PM10 reduced by up to 51% and 47% respectively during the lockdown periods, which resulted in �satisfactory� level of air quality index (AQI) as a result of reduced�vehicular traffic and industrial closing. These parameters continued to reduce as much as 80% during the unlock periods due to the additive impact of weather (rainfall and temperature) combined with the lockdown conditions. Kendall�s correlation matrix showed a significant negative correlation between temperature and air pollutants (r= ? 0.35 to ? 057). Conversely, SO2 and O3 did not improve, and in some cases, they increased during the lockdown and unlocking. COVID-19 spreading incidences were strongly and positively correlated with temperature (r < 0.62) and dew point (r < 0.73). Thus, this indicates that the increase in temperature and dew point cannot weaken the transmission of this virus. The number of COVID-19 cases relative to air pollutants was negatively correlated (r = ? 0.33 to ? 0.74), which may be�a mere coincidence as a result of lockdown. However, based on pre-lockdown�air quality data and demographic factors, it�was found that�particulate matter (PM2.5 and PM10) and population density are closely linked with higher morbidity and mortality although a more in-depth research is required in this direction to validate this finding. The onset of COVID-19 has allowed us to determine that �immediate� changes in air quality within densely populated/industrialized areas can improve livelihood based on pollution mitigation. These findings could be used by policymakers to set new benchmarks for air�pollution that would improve the quality of life for major sectors of the World�s population. COVID-19 has shown us that we can make changes when necessary, and findings may pave the way for future research to inform policy on the tough choices we will have to make between quality of life and survival.�Also, our results will enrich the ongoing discussion on the role of environmental factors on the transmission of COVID-19 and will help to take necessary steps for its control. � 2020, ISB.
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    COVID-19 pandemic: An outlook on its impact on air quality and its association with environmental variables in major cities of Punjab and Chandigarh, India
    (Bellwether Publishing, Ltd., 2020-10-31T00:00:00) Sahoo, Prafulla Kumar; Chauhan, Amit Kumar; Mangla, Sherry; Pathak, Ashok Kumar; Garg, V.K.
    The present study aims to evaluate the impact of COVID-19 lockdown on air quality and to explore the association of daily COVID-19 confirmed cases with meteorological parameters and criteria pollutants in the major cities of Punjab and Chandigarh, India during the different phase of pre-lockdown (March 1 to March 24), lockdown (1.0, 2.0, 3.0, 4.0; March 25 to May 31), and unlock (1.0, 2.0; > June 1) in 2020. Our results show that the COVID-19 lockdown has drastically improved the quality of air in major cities of Punjab and Chandigarh. Compared to pre-lockdown, maximum reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 levels (up to ?52 and ?53.5%, respectively) was witnessed during lockdown 1.0, but their levels were rising again during the last phase of lockdown and unlock phases. This is due to more relaxation and traffic returned on the road. Among other pollutants, NO2 also reduced during lockdown 1.0, but remained variable between cities and different phases of lockdown and unlock periods. However, surface-level ozone resulted in an overall increase trend during the lockdown and unlock phases. Regarding the relationship between COVID-19 and meteorological parameters, Spearman correlation test shows that ambient temperature is positively correlated with COVID-19 daily confirmed cases (r < 0.77, p < 0.01). This result indicates that the study region�s hot tropical weather is less effective in controlling the spread of COVID-19. Relative humidity and wind speed are also weakly correlated with COVID-19. Furthermore, among criteria pollutants, PM2.5 and PM10 are positively correlated (r < 0.55, p < 0.01) with COVID-19 pandemic, especially in Jalandhar and Ludhiana, suggesting that these pollutants could lead to the spreading of the virus. However, further in-depth studies are required to validate this finding. The results of this study can contribute to the understanding of the role of environmental factors in the transmission of COVID-19 in tropical and sub-tropical countries like India, Brazil, etc. This study also indicates that the temporarylockdown like COVID-19 can be emerged as an effective way to control environmental imbalancein the study area, as well as in other areas. � 2020 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.