Abstract
The air quality index (AQI) of a location informs how clean or unhealthy the ambient air is. While COVID-19 pandemic on one hand threatened the health of mankind globally, on the other hand was a respite to poor air quality of most cities. This study evaluated the positive effects of the brief COVID-19 lockdown on the air quality of Port Harcourt city, Nigeria. Air quality parameters aimed at assessing air quality index of Port Harcourt Metropolis before, during and after COVID-19 pandemic lockdown were monitored and compared. Data were analysed and AQI of sampled locations computed using the US EPA recommended standard procedure. Results from the study showed that, the ambient air quality of Port Harcourt was hazardous for breathing before lockdown. During shutdown of activities, the air quality improved to unhealthy status, with an average reduction AQI of 261.7 points. However, an average increase of 100.7 points, resulting to very unhealthy air status for residents after lockdown was observed. The unhealthy status during lockdown shows that anthropogenic activities were still on despite the Pandemic shutdown of economic activities. Also, decrease in levels of the criteria air pollutants was observed. Before lock down, the range levels of SO3, NO2, CO, O3, PM2.5 and PM10 were 3, 15 - 135 μg/m3, respectively. In the period of lockdown, the levels reduced considerably, especially CO and PM2.5 and PM10 (1 - 12 ppm, 5 - 60 μg/m3, and 10 - 50 μg/ m3). Conversely, after lockdown, there was upsurge in levels of the pollutants, especially CO and PM2.5 and PM10 (4 - 16 ppm, 10 - 110 μg/m3, 10 - 90 μg/m3). Authorities are expected to establish routine air quality measurements stations and communicate daily air quality to residents, for public health precaution purposes. Shutdown of industrial activities instituted by Government in curtailing the surge of COVID-19 pandemic could likely be a novel environmental model for mitigating air pollution in highly hazardous air pollution emergency domains.
Highlights
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious and communicable disease caused by the recently discovered coronavirus, which arose from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection (WHO, 2020; Zhou et al, 2020)
This study evaluated the positive effects of the brief COVID-19 lockdown on the air quality of Port Harcourt city, Nigeria
Result from this study showed that the ambient air quality of Port Harcourt was hazardous for breathing before lockdown
Summary
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infectious and communicable disease caused by the recently discovered coronavirus, which arose from severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) infection (WHO, 2020; Zhou et al, 2020). While the trend in morbidity and mortality of COVID-19 continued to rise in most of 2020, the environment was observed to be recovering from long-term air pollution levels (Cristina et al, 2020; Paital, 2020; Arora et al, 2020; Mahato et al, 2020; Yuri et al, 2020) Unlike cities such as Abuja (Kanee et al, 2020a), long before the lockdown of Port Harcourt, residents have been experiencing particulate matter deposits in the form of soot haze on surfaces and black stains in nasal orifices with increasing trends of cardiopulmonary disease and deaths documented (Ede & Edokpa, 2017; Edokpa & Ede, 2019; Yakubu, 2017; Fienemika et al, 2018; RSMENV, 2019; Kanee et al, 2020b)
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