Foresight from the impacts of COVID-19 on air pollution
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EDITORIAL
Foresight from the impacts of COVID‑19 on air pollution Silvia Machado1 · Samina Mehnaz2 Published online: 31 August 2020 © Society for Environmental Sustainability 2020
Mankind is currently experiencing unprecedented situations, with immeasurable uncertainties, that have put the world to an endurance test and led to unpredicted environmental impacts. The COVID-19 outbreak, reportedly started in December 2019, in the city of Wuhan, Hubei province, in China, led the world to lockdowns and industrial shutdowns as well as restricted travelling (El Zowalaty et al. 2020). The pandemic interacts, directly and indirectly, with many of earth systems and sciences. Although very disruptive to society and socially painful, it has also provided unparalleled opportunities for scientific development and actions. Increase in use of fossil fuels and related emissions from power generation, traffic combustion, and industrial activities, led to the upsurge of pollution related cardiovascular and respiratory diseases (Lelieveld et al. 2019), such as ischemic heart disease (40%), stroke (40%), chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD; 11%), lung cancer (6%), and acute lower respiratory infections in children (3%) (WHO 2016). The reaction to air pollutants varies, depending on factors such as type of pollutant, the degree of exposure, individual health status and genetics (Vallero 2008). Air pollution, both indoor and outdoor, is considered the leading risk factor for human mortality, contributing six percent globally, with 3.4–4.2 million premature deaths every year (Ritchie and Roser 2019; Silva et al. 2013; World Bank and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation 2016). In low to middle income countries, particularly in the Middle East and North Africa, it can account for 10 percent or higher death rate. Egypt reported highest death rate in 2017, with 114 deaths per 100 thousand individuals, ascribed to outdoor air pollution. This death rate is 10 times higher than Sweden, Finland and New Zealand. Following
* Silvia Machado [email protected] 1
Department of Environmental Sciences, Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore 54600, Pakistan
School of Life Sciences, Forman Christian College (A Chartered University), Lahore 54600, Pakistan
2
Egypt, several other countries in the Asian continent including China, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh, reported a high mortality rate due to air pollution. The death distribution patterns can be linked to low to middle income, densely populated regions, undergoing a change through industrialization (Ritchie and Roser 2019). In higher income countries the number of deaths related with air pollution are lower as the pollution levels have come down, and overall health situation and facilities are better. The World Bank and Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (2016), in a joint study on the economic effects of pollution-related fatalities, estimated that every tenth death is associated with air pollution. This translates in productivity loss
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