Abstract
The COVID-19 epidemic discovered and reported at the end of December 2019 and began spreading rapidly around the world. The impact of the COVID-19 event on the trip intensity, AQI (air quality index), and air pollutants, including PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and O3 in Shenzhen, Guangzhou, and Foshan (the so-called ‘three cities’) from January 12 to March 27, in 2019 and 2020, are compared and discussed. In 2020, the combined trip intensity in the three cities ranged between 0.73 and 5.54 and averaged 2.57, which was 28.4% lower than that in 2019. In terms of the combined AQIs for the three cities, from January 12 to March 26, 2020, the daily AQIs ranged between 21.0 and 121.3 and averaged 56.4, which was 16.0% lower than that in 2019. The average AQIs in order were Guangzhou (57.5) > Foshan (54.1) > Shenzhen (44.1). In 2019, the distribution proportions of the six AQI classes were 45.2%, 50.4%, 4.40%, 0%, 0%, and 0%, respectively, while those in 2020 were 62.7%, 37.3%, 0%, 0%, 0% and 0%, respectively. For the combined data for the three cities, on the top five days with the highest AQIs during the epidemic period, the average concentrations of PM2.5, PM10, SO2, CO, NO2, and O3 were 76.4 μg m–3, 113.4 μg m–3, 5.14 ppb, 0.88 ppm, 36.5 ppb and 55.5 ppb, which were 55.2%, 49.4%, 55.1%, 30.0%, 45.1% and 15.5% lower than those during the non-epidemic period (from January 12 to March 27, 2017–2019). The above results revealed that the comprehensive strict epidemic prevention and control actions reduced trip intensity and improved the air quality significantly.
Highlights
Since the economic reform in 1978, China’s economy has been in a state of rapid development (Chan and Yao, 2008)
In the combined the data from the three cities, from January 12 to March 27, in 2019, the trip intensity ranged between 0.94 and 4.82, and averaged 3.59, while those in 2020, the trip intensity ranged between 0.73 and 5.54, and averaged 2.57, which was 28.4% lower than that in 2019
The trip intensity in these cities remained stable around its lowest point from February 4 to February 8, 2019, while in 2020, the lowest point was between January 25 and February 9, which was due to the implementation of strict epidemic control measures in Guangdong Province has led to a reduction in the frequency of unnecessary travel
Summary
Since the economic reform in 1978, China’s economy has been in a state of rapid development (Chan and Yao, 2008). China’s rapid economic development is accompanied by increased energy demand and health problems caused by air pollution. Hu et al (2015) studied the impact of PM2.5 on human health, pointing out that fine particles can increase the incidence of respiratory and cardiovascular diseases. Sulfur dioxide in the air accumulates in the body through human respiration and affects the respiratory system, causing respiratory diseases such as asthma (Xu et al, 2020b). It is a cause for concern because it plays an important role in the formation of ozone, particle pollution, smog and acid rain (Kyrkilis et al, 2007). The impact of air pollution on human health and the human living environment makes air quality a serious issue for the Chinese government and the public (Xu et al, 2020a; Zhang et al, 2020)
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