Abstract
Since the beginning of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has generated horror and panic around the world. Nevertheless, this terrible crisis is having a positive side effect: it is lowering pollution levels. The outbreak of the coronavirus has caused many governments to impose measures to slow the spread of the virus within populations, such as limiting population displacement, requesting social distancing and the isolation of individuals at home, and reducing industrial activity. In this work, we investigated the effects of governmental measures taken to limit the spread of COVID-19 on the concentrations of air pollutants over four Tunisian cities (Tunis, Sousse, Sfax, and Tataouine). Data on the average daily levels of nitrogen dioxide, sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide, and particulate matter during January, February, March, and April of 2020 were collected, treated, and analyzed for each city. Curves of average monthly pollutant concentrations from 1 January to 30 April for each city investigated showed that measures taken to reduce the spread of the virus had a substantial impact on emission levels: there were tremendous drops of 51% in NO2 and 52% in SO2 over Sfax City during March compared to those during January, while nitrogen dioxide and sulfur dioxide levels dropped by about 38% and 42%, respectively, over Tunis City and by around 20% for Sousse. During the four months investigated, almost all of the pollutant concentrations showed a significant drop from mid-March. On 12 March, the Tunisian government imposed some individual and collective measures to protect the population from the virus, such as social distancing, limiting transportation, shutting down schools and universities, and reducing industrial activity. A general lockdown was brought in later. Thus, restricting human and industrial activities appeared to affect the air quality in Tunisia, leading to a marked improvement in the air quality index.Graphic abstract
Highlights
As of 30 April 2020, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which originated in China in late December 2019, was reported to have infected 3,266,132 people around the world and killed almost 234,000 since the start of the COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019) pandemic (Worldmeters 2020)
We investigated how the levels of six air pollutants in four Tunisian cities varied during January, February, March, and April 2020 to probe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic crisis and protection measures imposed by the Tunisian government, including the lockdown
Since 12 March 2020, the Tunisian government has taken a series of protection measures to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus among the Tunisian population
Summary
As of 30 April 2020, the novel coronavirus SARS-CoV-2, which originated in China in late December 2019, was reported to have infected 3,266,132 people around the world and killed almost 234,000 since the start of the COVID-19 (COronaVIrus Disease 2019) pandemic (Worldmeters 2020). This pandemic has affected almost all countries, it is most prevalent in America, followed by Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The World Health Organization (WHO) has warned countries that the COVID-19 pandemic requires urgent action They have been preparing for the worstcase scenario as the total number of virus infections has increased. This scenario, as reported by a former chair of the Global Health Council and a long-term collaborator with the World Health Organization (WHO) (Spinney 2020), is that the outbreak goes global and the disease eventually becomes endemic, meaning that it circulates permanently in the human population
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