Comparing air quality during nationwide and regional lockdown in Mumbai Metropolitan City of India

Abstract

The second wave of COVID-19 triggered crises in India and resulted in a regional scale lockdown (March 2021), exempting specific economic sectors from economic misery. A national lockdown was announced during the first wave of this pandemic (March, 2020), resulting in a dramatic improvement in air quality. The present study explored whether the regional lockdown has an equal influence on air quality in various urban morphological units as the national lockdown. Results show that the regional lockdown in 2021 improved air quality by 32% more than the national lockdown in 2020. The rate of air quality improved between pre-lockdown and during a nationwide lockdown was 33%, 41% and 15% in industrial, commercial, and residential zones, respectively, but 53%, 46% and 43% during the regional lockdown. Because of the regional lockdown, air quality has improved at a quicker pace.