Lockdowns and reduction of economic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic improved air quality in Alexandria, Egypt
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Lockdowns and reduction of economic activities during the COVID-19 pandemic improved air quality in Alexandria, Egypt Mostafa M. El-Sheekh
&
Ibrahim A. Hassan
Received: 2 October 2020 / Accepted: 30 November 2020 # The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature Switzerland AG part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Parallel reductions in atmospheric aerosols (particulate matter (PM)) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) accompanied the drastic measures that were adopted to limit the spread of COVID-19. The results of this preliminary study conducted in northern Egypt revealed that ambient PM10, PM2.5, and NO2 levels decreased by 22.8%, 29.3%, and 25.9%, respectively, after the lockdown started on March 13, 2020. These reductions in concentrations significantly (p ˂ 0.01) correlated with the decrease in transportation and industrial and other economic activities. Furthermore, PM and NO2 concentrations radically reduced during the full lockdown on Easter, Ramadan, and Eid Al-Fitr. The findings of this study will help the World Health Organization (WHO) and other health regulators to combat COVID-19 in the world. This study is part of an ongoing research related to the current pandemic. Keywords Air quality . COVID-19 . Lockdown . PM10 . PM2.5 . NO2 M. M. El-Sheekh (*) Botany Department, Faculty of Science, Tanta University, Tanta 31527, Egypt e-mail: [email protected] I. A. Hassan Faculty of Science, Alexandria University, Moharem Bay, Alexandria 21511, Egypt I. A. Hassan National Scientific Committee of Problems in Environment (SCOPE), Academy of Scientific Research & Technology, 101 Kas El Ini Street, Cairo, Egypt
Introduction The increased population and rapid urban and industrial growth in Egypt have created overcrowded streets filled with cars and trucks, exacerbating air quality (Mostafa et al. 2018). Vehicular emissions and various industrial activities are the principal sources of particulate matter (PM) and NO2, which are harmful to respiratory systems. Both PM and NO2 are hazardous to human health, as they cause lung damage and asthma (Olivieri and Scoditti 2005). The World Health Organization (WHO) declared the ongoing global outbreak of COVID-19 as a public health emergency of international concern (World Health Organization 2020a, b), which led to unprecedented public health responses in many countries around the world, including travel restrictions, curfews, and quarantine. The WHO on March 11, 2020, declared COVID-19, the novel coronavirus, as a pandemic (Bashir et al. 2020a; Shi and Brasseur 2020; WHO 2020a, b, c) because of its widespread transmission, a significant number of deaths, and higher infections and mortality rate compared to previous coronavirus outbreaks. Shereen et al. (2020) state that it is a singlestranded RNA as nuclei material with a diameter of ~ 80 nm. Long-term air quality data significantly correlated with cases of COVID-19 in Italy, giving evidence that chronic exposure to atmospheric contamination represents an encouraging context for the spread of the n
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