Abstract
Fifteen cities across the world have been selected to investigate the public health co-benefits of PM2.5 reduction, during a period when various non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) were adopted in the COVID-19 pandemic. Through applying a public health model, AirQ+, substantial spatial variations of global public health co-benefits were identified. Differences in seasonal air quality and population baselines were key underlying factors. For cities in North America, NPIs were introduced during the low pollution season, generating no co-benefits. On the other hand, tremendous health co-benefits were observed for cities in India and China, due to the high PM2.5 background with a large population. Among all, New Delhi has received the largest co-benefits, which saved over 14,700 premature deaths. As the pollution level (i.e., 45 μg m−3) with NPIs still exceeded the air quality standard, more rigorous emission controls are urgently needed to protect the public′s health in India. At last, a novel and practical tool for co-benefit screening was developed using data from one of the global measurement networks (i.e., IQAir).
Highlights
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has made the World Health Organization (WHO)declare the outbreak of the disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020
As many cities suffered from a strong hit in the first wave of the pandemic, the large number of confirmed cases, combined with a lack of medical resources, forced governments to implement non-pharmaceutical interventions (NPIs) to curb the spread of the virus
The percentage change in PM2.5 from cities with lockdown ranged from −12% to −49% in the ambient stations, with Beijing, New Delhi, London, Los Angeles, Lima, and New York being −28%, −49%, −12%, −14%, −48%, and −24% on 3-year averaging (2017–2019), respectively
Summary
The rapid spread of COVID-19 has made the World Health Organization (WHO)declare the outbreak of the disease as a Public Health Emergency of International Concern on 30 January 2020, and a pandemic on 11 March 2020. With the case studies of New Delhi, London, Hong Kong, New York, and Zurich, the relationship of local traffic change and PM2.5 air quality were examined.
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