Substantial changes in Gaseous pollutants and health effects during COVID-19 in Delhi, India

Bhupendra Singh; Puneeta Pandey; Saikh Mohammad Wabaidur; Ram Avtar; Pramod Kumar; Shakilur Rahman

doi:10.7717/peerj.14489

Substantial changes in Gaseous pollutants and health effects during COVID-19 in Delhi, India

PeerJ. 2023 Jan 9:11:e14489. doi: 10.7717/peerj.14489. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Bhupendra Singh^{1

2}, Puneeta Pandey³, Saikh Mohammad Wabaidur⁴, Ram Avtar⁵, Pramod Kumar⁶, Shakilur Rahman⁷

Affiliations

¹ Delhi School of Climate Change and Sustainability (Institute of Eminence), University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India.
² Deshbandhu College, Department of Environmental Science, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India.
³ Department of Environmental Sciences and Technology, Central University of Punjab Bathinda, Bathinda, Punjab, India.
⁴ Chemistry Department, King Saud University, Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
⁵ Faculty of Environmental Earth Science, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan, Sapporo, Japan.
⁶ Department of Chemistry, Sri Aurobindo College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, Delhi, India.
⁷ Department of Medical Elementology and Toxicology, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India.

Abstract

Background: Coronavirus disease has affected the entire population worldwide in terms of physical and environmental consequences. Therefore, the current study demonstrates the changes in the concentration of gaseous pollutants and their health effects during the COVID-19 pandemic in Delhi, the national capital city of India.

Methodology: In the present study, secondary data on gaseous pollutants such as nitrogen dioxide (NO₂), carbon monoxide (CO), sulfur dioxide (SO₂), ammonia (NH₃), and ozone (O₃) were collected from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB) on a daily basis. Data were collected from January 1, 2020, to September 30, 2020, to determine the relative changes (%) in gaseous pollutants for pre-lockdown, lockdown, and unlockdown stages of COVID-19.

Results: The current findings for gaseous pollutants reveal that concentration declined in the range of 51%-83% (NO), 40%-69% (NOx), 31%-60% (NO₂), and 25%-40% (NH₃) during the lockdown compared to pre-lockdown period, respectively. The drastic decrease in gaseous pollutants was observed due to restricted measures during lockdown periods. The level of ozone was observed to be higher during the lockdown periods as compared to the pre-lockdown period. These gaseous pollutants are linked between the health risk assessment and hazard identification for non-carcinogenic. However, in infants (0-1 yr), Health Quotient (HQ) for daily and annual groups was found to be higher than the rest of the exposed group (toddlers, children, and adults) in all the periods.

Conclusion: The air quality values for pre-lockdown were calculated to be "poor category to "very poor" category in all zones of Delhi, whereas, during the lockdown period, the air quality levels for all zones were calculated as "satisfactory," except for Northeast Delhi, which displayed the "moderate" category. The computed HQ for daily chronic exposure for each pollutant across the child and adult groups was more than 1 (HQ > 1), which indicated a high probability to induce adverse health outcomes.

Keywords: COVID-19; Air Quality; Health Hazard; lockdown; unlockdown.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Adult
Air Pollutants* / adverse effects
COVID-19* / epidemiology
Communicable Disease Control
Environmental Pollutants*
Humans
Infant
Nitrogen Dioxide / adverse effects
Ozone* / adverse effects
Pandemics
Particulate Matter / analysis

Substances

Air Pollutants
Environmental Pollutants
Particulate Matter
Nitrogen Dioxide
Ozone

Grants and funding

The authors received funding from the Researchers Supporting Project Number (RSP2022R448), King Saud University, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.