Zhang, J. and Lim, Y. H. and Andersen, Z. J. and Napolitano, G. and Taghavi Shahri, S. M. and So, R. and Plucker, M. and Danesh-Yazdi, M. and Cole-Hunter, T. and Therming Jørgensen, J. and Liu, S. and Bergmann, M. and Jayant Mehta, A. and Mortensen, L. H. and Requia, W. and Lange, T. and Loft, S. and Künzli, N. and Schwartz, J. and Amini, H.. (2022) Stringency of COVID-19 containment response policies and air quality changes: a global analysis across 1851 cities. Environmental science & technology, 56. 12086−12096.
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Official URL: https://edoc.unibas.ch/91026/
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Abstract
The COVID-19 containment response policies (CRPs) had a major impact on air quality (AQ). These CRPs have been time-varying and location-specific. So far, despite having numerous studies on the effect of COVID-19 lockdown on AQ, a knowledge gap remains on the association between stringency of CRPs and AQ changes across the world, regions, nations, and cities. Here, we show that globally across 1851 cities (each more than 300000 people) in 149 countries, after controlling for the impacts of relevant covariates (e.g., meteorology), Sentinel-5P satellite-observed nitrogen dioxide (NO2) levels decreased by 4.9% (95% CI: 2.2, 7.6%) during lockdowns following stringent CRPs compared to pre-CRPs. The NO2 levels did not change significantly during moderate CRPs and even increased during mild CRPs by 2.3% (95% CI: 0.7, 4.0%), which was 6.8% (95% CI: 2.0, 12.0%) across Europe and Central Asia, possibly due to population avoidance of public transportation in favor of private transportation. Among 1768 cities implementing stringent CRPs, we observed the most NO2 reduction in more populated and polluted cities. Our results demonstrate that AQ improved when and where stringent COVID-19 CRPs were implemented, changed less under moderate CRPs, and even deteriorated under mild CRPs. These changes were location-, region-, and CRP-specific.
Faculties and Departments: | 09 Associated Institutions > Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) 03 Faculty of Medicine > Departement Public Health > Sozial- und Präventivmedizin > Air Pollution and Health (Künzli) 09 Associated Institutions > Swiss Tropical and Public Health Institute (Swiss TPH) > Former Units within Swiss TPH > Air Pollution and Health (Künzli) |
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UniBasel Contributors: | Künzli, Nino |
Item Type: | Article, refereed |
Article Subtype: | Research Article |
ISSN: | 0013-936X |
Note: | Publication type according to Uni Basel Research Database: Journal article |
Language: | English |
Related URLs: | |
Identification Number: |
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edoc DOI: | |
Last Modified: | 28 Dec 2022 10:02 |
Deposited On: | 28 Dec 2022 10:02 |
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