The dramatic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far?
The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported from Wuhan, China, on December 31<sup>st</sup>, 2019. As the number of coronavirus infections has exceeded 100,000 with toll deaths of about 5000 worldwide as of early March, 2020, scientists and researchers are racing to...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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GJESM Publisher
2020-07-01
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| Series: | Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management |
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| Online Access: | https://www.gjesm.net/article_38731_aa82f3293e9a7e957252277ae3e1dacc.pdf |
| _version_ | 1818425129521119232 |
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| author | R.J. Isaifan |
| author_facet | R.J. Isaifan |
| author_sort | R.J. Isaifan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported from Wuhan, China, on December 31<sup>st</sup>, 2019. As the number of coronavirus infections has exceeded 100,000 with toll deaths of about 5000 worldwide as of early March, 2020, scientists and researchers are racing to investigate the nature of this virus and evaluate the short and long term effects of this disease. Despite its negative impacts that obliged the World Health Organization to declare COVID-19 epidemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the rate of mortality of this infection has not exceeded 3.4% globally. On the other hand, the mortality rate caused by ambient air pollution has contributed to 7.6% of all deaths in 2016 worldwide. The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced China to lockdown its industrial activities and hence dropped its NO<sub>2</sub> and carbon emissions by 30 and 25%, respectively. This work reports on the first case study that compares the air quality status before and after the crisis. It sheds light on the facts related to the demographics of deaths by gender, age and health status before infection. The historical data on air quality, estimates of annual deaths and its economic burden have been presented and analyzed. The actual daily deaths due to COVID-19 have been obtained from the official records of the daily Situation Reports published by World Health Organization as of March 11<sup>th</sup>. The rate of mortality due to COVID-19 was impacted by two factors: age and health status. Results show that 75% of deaths were related to cases that had underlying present diseases with the majority aged of 80+ years. The reported figures were compared with the average daily mortality due to poor air quality which reached up to 3287 deaths due to high levels of NO<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>3</sub> and PM. The air quality status before the crisis was compared with the current situation showing that COVID-19 forced-industrial and anthropogenic activities lockdown may have saved more lives by preventing ambient air pollution than by preventing infection. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-14T14:09:02Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8377b61418a94fb5a93cd37e5fe276e9 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2383-3572 2383-3866 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-14T14:09:02Z |
| publishDate | 2020-07-01 |
| publisher | GJESM Publisher |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management |
| spelling | doaj.art-8377b61418a94fb5a93cd37e5fe276e92022-12-21T22:58:23ZengGJESM PublisherGlobal Journal of Environmental Science and Management2383-35722383-38662020-07-016327528810.22034/gjesm.2020.03.0138731The dramatic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far?R.J. Isaifan0Division of Sustainable Development, Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Education City, P.O. Box 5825, Doha, QatarThe outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) was first reported from Wuhan, China, on December 31<sup>st</sup>, 2019. As the number of coronavirus infections has exceeded 100,000 with toll deaths of about 5000 worldwide as of early March, 2020, scientists and researchers are racing to investigate the nature of this virus and evaluate the short and long term effects of this disease. Despite its negative impacts that obliged the World Health Organization to declare COVID-19 epidemic as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern, the rate of mortality of this infection has not exceeded 3.4% globally. On the other hand, the mortality rate caused by ambient air pollution has contributed to 7.6% of all deaths in 2016 worldwide. The outbreak of COVID-19 has forced China to lockdown its industrial activities and hence dropped its NO<sub>2</sub> and carbon emissions by 30 and 25%, respectively. This work reports on the first case study that compares the air quality status before and after the crisis. It sheds light on the facts related to the demographics of deaths by gender, age and health status before infection. The historical data on air quality, estimates of annual deaths and its economic burden have been presented and analyzed. The actual daily deaths due to COVID-19 have been obtained from the official records of the daily Situation Reports published by World Health Organization as of March 11<sup>th</sup>. The rate of mortality due to COVID-19 was impacted by two factors: age and health status. Results show that 75% of deaths were related to cases that had underlying present diseases with the majority aged of 80+ years. The reported figures were compared with the average daily mortality due to poor air quality which reached up to 3287 deaths due to high levels of NO<sub>2</sub>, O<sub>3</sub> and PM. The air quality status before the crisis was compared with the current situation showing that COVID-19 forced-industrial and anthropogenic activities lockdown may have saved more lives by preventing ambient air pollution than by preventing infection.https://www.gjesm.net/article_38731_aa82f3293e9a7e957252277ae3e1dacc.pdfair qualityburden of diseasechinacoronaviruscovid-19mortality rate |
| spellingShingle | R.J. Isaifan The dramatic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far? Global Journal of Environmental Science and Management air quality burden of disease china coronavirus covid-19 mortality rate |
| title | The dramatic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far? |
| title_full | The dramatic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far? |
| title_fullStr | The dramatic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far? |
| title_full_unstemmed | The dramatic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far? |
| title_short | The dramatic impact of Coronavirus outbreak on air quality: Has it saved as much as it has killed so far? |
| title_sort | dramatic impact of coronavirus outbreak on air quality has it saved as much as it has killed so far |
| topic | air quality burden of disease china coronavirus covid-19 mortality rate |
| url | https://www.gjesm.net/article_38731_aa82f3293e9a7e957252277ae3e1dacc.pdf |
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