ANALYSIS OF AIR-BORNE POLLUTANTS DURING SECOND WAVE OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC OVER MAJOR CITIES OF INDIA

Abstract

In this paper, we analyzed air-borne pollutants like PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2, CO and Ozone obtained from twelve air-quality monitoring stations operated by various central and state-pollution control agencies in different parts of India during second wave (March to May’ 2021) of Covid-19 pandemic. Our results show positive correlations between Covid-19 cases and PM2.5/10 over Delhi (+0.049) and Lucknow (+0.097) of Northern India. Lowest PM2.5 concentrations was observed over Chennai (~19), which was due to lockdown restrictions imposed by Tamilnadu state government. Pearson coefficients of PM2.5, PM10 and NO2 were observed to be negative for all the three chosen major cities of Southern India, and thereby, indicating that corona pandemic was not affected by air-borne particulates over Southern India. The average PM10 density of Eastern India was estimated to be maximum at Varanasi (~161) and lowest at Kolkatta (~85), however Pearson coefficient, P was fond to be negative for Kolkatta (-0.72). Further, over Western India, pearson coefficients of PM2.5, PM10, NO2, SO2 and CO were estimated to be negative for all the three chosen major cities. Ozone was found to have its positive trends at Ahmedabad (+0.32) and negative trends for both Jaipur (-0.044) and Mumbai (-0.017). Student t-test was also applied to test the significance between two independent data sets.