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Reduction of air pollutants and associated mortality during and after the COVID-19 lockdown in China: Impacts and implications.

ABSTRACT: Although strict lockdown measurements implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic have dramatically reduced the anthropogenic-based emissions, changes in air quality and its health impacts remain unclear in China. We comprehensively described air pollution during and after the lockdown periods in 2020 compared with 2018-2019, and estimated the mortality burden indicated by the number of deaths and years of life lost (YLL) related to the air pollution changes. The mean air quality index (AQI), PM₁₀, PM_2.5, NO₂, SO₂ and CO concentrations during the lockdown across China declined by 18.2 (21.2%), 27.0 μg/m³ (28.9%), 10.5 μg/m³ (18.3%), 8.4 μg/m³ (44.2%), 13.1 μg/m³ (38.8%), and 0.3 mg/m³ (27.3%) respectively, when compared to the same periods during 2018-2019. We observed an increase in O₃ concentration during the lockdown by 5.5 μg/m³ (10.4%), and a slight decrease after the lockdown by 3.4 μg/m³ (4.4%). As a result, there were 51.3 (95%CI: 32.2, 70.1) thousand fewer premature deaths (16.2 thousand during and 35.1 thousand after the lockdown), and 1066.8 (95%CI: 668.7, 1456.8) thousand fewer YLLs (343.3 thousand during and 723.5 thousand after the lockdown) than these in 2018-2019. Our findings suggest that the COVID-19 lockdown has caused substantial decreases in air pollutants except for O₃, and that substantial human health benefits can be achieved when strict control measures for air pollution are taken to reduce emissions from vehicles and industries. Stricter tailored policy solutions of air pollution are urgently needed in China and other countries, especially in well-developed industrial regions, such as upgrading industry structure and promoting green transportation.

SUBMITTER: Chen G

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8170876 | biostudies-literature |

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Project description:The novel coronavirus (COVID-19) has induced unprecedented improvements of air quality due to drastic shrinking of human activities during the pandemic lockdown in 2020. While declines of most air pollutants have been globally evidenced in most cities worldwide, there is few detailed spatial knowledge at local scale. Therefore, we present here a high resolution mapping of the 2018-2020 evolution of human activities and air pollutants in Wuhan. Human activities were assessed by nighttime light radiance. We measured the air quality index (AQI) as the maximum value among air quality sub-indices of SO2, NO2, CO, O3 and particulate matter. We also compared mean monthly pollutant concentration during January-April in 2018, 2019 and 2020. Mapping results show that variations of nighttime light radiance were heterogenous at local scale, showing both rises and declines in the same district. The radiance decreased in eight districts located mostly in the city center, as a result of lower human activity, but the radiance increased in the five surrounding districts, as a consequence of people staying at home. AQI was low during lockdown, averaging at 57, but showed strong daily variations with a slight pollution around February 5 with AQI rising to 126. During this pollution event, particulate matter, SO2, NO2 and CO levels were positively correlated, suggesting common sources, but were not correlated with ozone; and particulate matter, SO2, NO2 and CO decreased with relative humidity, suggesting removal by precipitation. Comparison of 2020 data with previous years shows that particulate matter and NO2 were highly reduced, CO was less reduced due to ongoing power industries, SO2 first declined then increased to exceed 2018-19 values due to coal combustion, and ozone levels was more abundant due both to less NOx pollution and the weekend effect.Supplementary informationThe online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10311-021-01222-x.

Dataset Information

Reduction of air pollutants and associated mortality during and after the COVID-19 lockdown in China: Impacts and implications.

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