Days Of Lockdown Research Articles

Beyond fight or flight: The protective role of pre-pandemic meditation practice against anxiety and perceived stress.

The COVID-19 pandemic generated distinct mental health challenges, characterised by stress and anxiety due to its unpredictable duration and continuous threat. This study examined the role of meditation practice on anxiety symptoms and perceived stress, considering co-variables such as self-compassion, acceptance, awareness, brooding, lockdown duration, and sociodemographic characteristics. The study used a longitudinal design and data were collected through online surveys from April 2020 to January 2021 (at four different time points) and included 238 participants from Portugal (165 had prior experience with meditation practices, 73 were non-meditators) with a mean age of 43.08years (SD=10.96). Linear mixed models revealed that over time, during the lockdown, the non-meditators group demonstrated a greater increase of anxiety symptoms (β=-0.226, SE=0.06, p=0.006) and perceived stress (β=-0.20, SE=0.06, p=0.004), whereas the meditators group showed non-significant (p>0.05) variations in anxiety and stress symptoms during the same period of time. The effect of meditation on anxiety symptoms was moderated by sex, days of lockdown, self-compassion, and acceptance. The effect of meditation on perceived stress was moderated by sex, years of education, days of lockdown, and levels of awareness. Additionally, the study explored the potential predictive effect of different meditation session lengths, indicating that longer meditation practices offered greater protection against an increase in anxiety symptoms. These findings highlight the importance of cultivating self-regulation skills and investing in preventive mental health strategies to promote well-being and autonomy. Mental health professionals should prioritise educating communities on evidence-based practices like meditation and compassion exercises to enhance overall health.

Physical isolation and loneliness: Evidence from COVID lock-downs in Australia

Loneliness contributes to mortality risk, comparable to the risks associated with smoking and obesity, although the causal determinants of loneliness remain less clear. This paper leverages mandatory stay-at-home orders in Australia as a natural experiment and employs data from a panel study to investigate the causal link between physical isolation and loneliness. By analyzing variations in the number of lockdown days experienced by respondents up until their interview dates, and utilizing difference-in-differences analyses with individual, region, and year fixed-effects estimations, we find, contrary to expectations, that the number of days in lockdown does not significantly impact loneliness. Our study examines cumulative, concurrent, and non-linear effects, and assesses external validity through community morale and peer effects during lockdowns using spatial analysis. Additionally, we delve into heterogeneous effects across various factors, such as income, age, personality, living arrangements, and remoteness, finding statistically and empirically insignificant effects. However, for extroverts and young people, we observe weak statistical significance. We investigate exclusion restrictions by analyzing factors including social contacts, internet access, job industry, and household characteristics in relation to loneliness; as well as time use and relationship satisfaction to better understand the underlying mechanism. Our study challenges the notion that 'being alone' and 'being lonely' are interchangeable concepts, providing the first empirical causal evidence of no links between the two. Furthermore, our findings refine earlier understandings of social isolation, highlighting that it likely encompasses factors beyond physical isolation.

Effect of COVID‐19 lockdown on ambient air quality

AbstractThe aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of pandemic‐related lockdown on Turkey's air quality throughout time and space. For this purpose, statistical techniques were used to assess daily particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen oxides and nitrogen dioxide (NOx and NO2), ozone (O3), and carbon monoxide (CO). The study's findings showed that, while the lockdown improved air quality in terms of air pollutant emissions, the most notable reduction was in NO2 and NOx emissions. When comparing the months prior to the pandemic (November 2019 to January 2020) with the months during the pandemic (November 2020 to January 2021), the declines in NO2 were 20%, 3%, and 0.5%, respectively. NOx emissions decreased by an average of 19% and 5% in November and December, respectively, and increased by an average of 16% in January during the pandemic. When the data for the 33 days of lockdown were compared to the data for the same 33 days the previous year, significant differences were determined at several Clean Air Centers, which were two for PM10, two for SO2, seven for NOx, four for NO2, two for CO, and three for O3, respectively. In this study, pollutant concentrations were found in the following ranges from November 2019 to January 2021: PM10: 3–208 µg m–3, SO2: 1–56 µg m–3, NOx: 6–600 µg m–3, NO2: 4–155 µg m–3, CO: 1–3921 µg m–3, and O3: 2–119 µg m–3. There were days that exceeded the limit values for PM10.

Keep it locked (down): how Melbourne’s community radio stations performed scene functions in the context of the coronavirus pandemic

ABSTRACT While community radio scholars have been astute in documenting the democratic and socio-political value of community radio, there has been a lack of analysis towards its specifically musicalized role and the influence that has on local music scenes. Comparably, popular music research has tended to focus on physical, ‘bounded’ spaces such as band rooms and clubs. But what happens when these spaces cannot be accessed? By positioning Melbourne’s six COVID-19 response lockdowns as an ‘unbounded’ context, this article sets out to uncover which, and to what extent, scenic functions are performed by the city’s community radio stations. Focusing on three of the FM community broadcasters – PBS, 3RRR, and 3MBS – it draws on both community radio studies and scene theory to identify conceptual overlaps as well as a gap in pre-existing scholarship between the two. Scene and community are discussed in conjunction with the ideas of ‘space’ and ‘empowerment’, which I argue pertain equally to community radio studies and the scene concept. Based around these frameworks, an ethnographic study was conducted in order to collect qualitative data and best determine the scenic responsibilities upheld by community radio across Melbourne’s 267 days in lockdown.

A Comparative Multicenter Cohort Study Evaluating the Long-Term Influence of the Strict Lockdown during the First COVID-19 Wave on Lung Cancer Patients (ARTEMISIA Trial).

The consequences of the strict health restrictions during the first wave of COVID-19 on lung cancer (LC) patients are not known. This cohort study evaluated the impact of the initial lockdown on management of and long-term outcome in LC patients. This exposed-unexposed-type study included two evaluation periods of 6 months each in non-selected patients; one began on the first day of lockdown in 2020, and the other in 2019 during the same calendar period. Various indicators were compared: clinical profiles, management delays and overall survival beyond 2 years. A total of 816 patients from 7 public or private centers were enrolled. The clinical characteristics of the patients in 2020 did not differ from those in 2019, except that the population was older (p = 0.002) with more non-smokers (p = 0.006). Delays for pre-therapeutic medical management were generally reduced after the first imaging in 2020 (1.28 [1.1-1.49]). In the multivariate analysis, being part of the 2020 cohort was correlated with better prognosis (HR = 0.71 [0.5-0.84], p < 0.001). The gain observed in 2020 mainly benefited non-smoking patients, along with ECOG PS 0-2 (p = 0.01), stage 4 (p = 0.003), squamous cell carcinoma (p = 0.03) and receiving systemic therapy (p = 0.03). In conclusion, the first lockdown did not exert any deleterious impact on LC patients.

Physical Activity and Screen Time of Children Aged 5-13 Years during the COVID-19 Lockdown in Mongolia: A Cross-sectional Study

Background: A novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19) has posed a significant threat to global health and the economy over the last two years. In December 2019, a novel coronavirus infection began in Wuhan, China, and quickly spread throughout the world. Since January 2020, the Mongolian government has enforced a social distancing policy, and the country has been one of the few where the disease has not spread. In the 143 days since the outbreak, 575 cases have been reported, resulting in three cases of public emergency preparedness and 50 days of lockdown. The new school year began in September 2021, but due to the Covid-19 pandemic, children will be required to study online from home again on 12th November. It was interesting how the pandemic lockdown affected screen time and physical activity in children. Objective: We aimed to assess the relationship between physical activity (PA) and screen time (ST) of children aged 5-13 years’ Mongolian residents during the COVID-19 lockdown. Methods: The observational cross-sectional study was conducted during the COVID-19 lockdown between 5th Feb and 9th March 2021 which was the second lockdown of Mongolia, and we have studied 1005 children aged 5-13 years from the capital city. The questionnaire was used which was prepared by the study team and the questionnaire included 33 questions to evaluate screen time and physical activity. All parents reported the questionnaire to give some information about their children. We used appropriate statistical methods in SPSS software. Results: A total of 1005 children aged 5-13 years from 628 families were involved in the survey which included 51.9% boys and 44.1% girls. The median of PA and ST was 300 minutes [min, max: 0, 1260] and 30 minutes [min, max: 0,180]. The linear regression revealed a weak negative correlation (r2=0.005, p&lt;0.0001) between PA and ST. When ST and PA analyzed in age by age groups, there was a statistically significant negative dynamic of ST mean time and PA mean score (p&lt;0.0001). Older kids have more ST and lower PA during lockdown time. During this lockdown, 60.4% of the parents reported that their children showed a decrease in PA. Conclusion: The mean score of physical inactivity has decreased and ST increased dramatically among children 5-13 years as a result of the Covid-19 lockdown.

The politics of COVID-19: Differences between U.S. red and blue states in COVID-19 regulations and deaths

The study investigated infection variables and control strategies in 2020 and 2021 and their influence on COVID-19 deaths in the United States, with a particular focus on comparing red (Republican) and blue (Democratic) states. The analysis reviewed cumulative COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 by year, state political affiliation, and a priori latent factor groupings of mitigation strategies (lockdown days in 2020, mask mandate days, vaccination rates), social demographic variables (ethnicity, poverty rate), and biological variables (median age, obesity). Analyses first identified possible relationships between all assessed variables using K-means clustering for red, blue, and purple states. Then, a series of regression models were fit to assess the effects of mitigation strategies, social, and biological factors specifically on COVID-19 deaths in red and blue states. Results showed distinct differences in responding to COVID infections between red states to blue states, particularly the red states lessor adoption of mitigation factors leaving more sway on biological factors in predicting deaths. Whereas in blue states, where mitigation factors were more readily implemented, vaccinations had a more significant influence in reducing the probability of infections ending in death. Overall, study findings suggest politicalization of COVID-19 mitigation strategies played a role in death rates across the United States.

Demographic Characteristics and Disease Pattern Among Non-COVID-19 Patients Admitted to Medical Units of a Tertiary Care Hospital in Sri Lanka During Lockdown of the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comparison During and Before Lockdown.

The COVID-19 infection was rapidly spreading almost all over the world, and the first case was confirmed on 27th January 2020 by a foreign tourist in Sri Lanka. The first Sri Lankan citizen with COVID-19 was confirmed on 11th March 2020. Soon after the confirmation of the disease, long days of lockdown were imposed in almost all parts of the world, including Sri Lanka, to control the spread of the disease. Objectives: To determine the demographic characteristics such as age, sex, number of patients, and disease pattern among non-COVID-19 patients admitted to the medical units during the lockdown of the COVID-19 pandemic and to compare these characteristics with the data before the lockdown. This was a cross-sectional analytical study. It was conducted at the Teaching Hospital in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. All the non-COVID-19 patients admitted to medical wards and intensive care units (ICU) were included in this study. Patients admitted to the medical intensive care unit (MICU) and coronary care unit (CCU) were considered ICU admissions in this study. They were studied over a period of one month during lockdown (11th March 2020 to 10th April 2020) and compared with the patients admitted one month prior to the lockdown (11th February 2020 to 10th March 2020). Totally, 2340 non-COVID-19 patients (52.5% males) were admitted before the lockdown, and 1376 non-COVID-19 patients (56.2% males) were admitted during the lockdown. This reduction in admission is statistically significant (p-value is <0.001, df=3715). Patients admitted to the wards before lockdown were 2283 (97.6%) and during lockdown were 1309 (95.1%). ICU admissions were N=57 (2.4%) before lockdown and N=67 (4.9%) during lockdown. The common age distribution before the lockdown showed that 26.4% were 31-50 and 41.5% were 51-70 years. Similarly, during lockdown, the age distribution disclosed that 28.9% were 31-50 years and 42.9% were 51-70 years. The disease pattern demonstrated that before lockdown, the majority of patients were admitted for routine hemodialysis (13.2%), to get an injection (9.9%), ischemic heart disease (8.4%), chronic kidney disease (7.3%), and viral fever, including dengue (7.2%). Likewise, during lockdown, more patients were admitted for routine hemodialysis (10.7%), viral fever, including dengue (9.3%), ischemic heart disease (8.8%), to get an injection (8.5%), and chronic kidney disease (5.9%). Conclusion: There was a significant reduction in the number of non-COVID-19-related admissions during the period of lockdown. However, there was not much difference in the proportion of admissions according to gender, age, and disease pattern before and during lockdown. More number of male patients were admitted than female patients. Most of the admitted patients were under the age group of 51-70 years. The highest number of patients were admitted for routine hemodialysis before and during lockdown. However, a slightly higher number of patients were admitted to the ICU during lockdown. Therefore, strengthening the ICU facilities may be an important preparation to accommodate more patients in the future if a similar kind of emergency lockdown occurs in a pandemic situation. In addition, admissions due to non-communicable diseases (NCD) didn't fall in proportion during the pre-COVID-19 period and the lockdown period. Therefore, the redistribution of healthcare facilities needs to be done wisely to face the challenges caused by the NCDs.

Predictors of mental well-being over the first lockdown period due to the COVID-19 pandemic in France. A repeated cross-sectional study.

Numerous studies have investigated the positive and negative effects of potential predictors of well-being during lockdowns due to COVID-19. Yet, little is known on whether these effects significantly changed with time spent in lockdown. In the current study, we described the association of mental well-being with a large number of background characteristics (e.g., socio-demographic or health-related factors), COVID-related factors, and coping strategies, over the duration of the first lockdown due to COVID-19 in France. A nationwide online survey was conducted over 7 of the 8 weeks of the 1st lockdown in France, i.e., from 25 March 2020 to 10 May 2020. The level of mental well-being was reported using the Warwick-Edinburgh Mental Well-Being Scale (WEMWBS). We also measured various background characteristics (e.g., age, sex, education, health issues), COVID-related factors (e.g., health and economic risks, agreement with lockdown), and coping strategies. Our analytical strategy enabled us to disentangle effects aggregated over the study period from those that linearly vary with time spent in lockdown. Our final dataset included 18,957 participants. The level of mental well-being dropped gradually from the third to the eighth week of lockdown [49.7 (sd 7.9) to 45.5 (sd 10.6)]. Time in lockdown was associated with a decrease in well-being (for each additional 10 days of lockdown: B = -0.30, 95%CI: -0.62, -0.15). Factors that showed significantly negative and positive effects on well-being as time in lockdown progressed were (for each additional 10 days of lockdown): having current psychiatric problems (B = -0.37; 95%CI: -0.63, -0.04), worries about having access to personal protective equipment (B = -0.09; 95%CI: -0.18, -0.01), coping by having positive beliefs about the future of the pandemics (B = 0.29; 95%CI: 0.04, 0.62), being supported by neighbors (B = 0.24; 95%CI: 0.04, 0.44), and being involved in collective actions (B = 0.23; 95%CI: 0.04, 0.46). Participants from our sample saw a drop in their mental well-being throughout the first period of COVID-19 lockdown. Policymakers should be mindful of factors contributing to greater deterioration of mental well-being over time, such as having current psychiatric issues. Promoting collective actions and local support from neighbors may alleviate the deterioration of mental well-being over time.

What Got You through Lockdown?

What Got You through Lockdown?

Spatiotemporal Event Studies for Environmental Data Under Cross-Sectional Dependence: An Application to Air Quality Assessment in Lombardy

We propose a twofold adjustment for Event Studies considering spatiotemporal data in a multivariate time series framework where the data are characterized by spatial and temporal dependence. The first adjustment consists of modeling the spatiotemporal dynamics of the data by implementing several geostatistical models capable of handling both spatial and temporal components, as well as estimating the relationship between the response variable and a set of exogenous factors. With the second adjustment, we propose to use cross-sectional-adjusted test statistics directly accounting for spatial cross-correlation. The proposed methods are applied to the case of NO2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$_2$$\\end{document} concentrations observed in Northern Italy during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The key findings are as follows. First, all the considered geostatistical models estimate larger reductions in the major metropolitan and congested areas, while smaller reductions are estimated in rural plains and in the mountains. Second, the models are nearly equivalent in terms of fitting and are capable of identifying the true event window. Third, by using spatiotemporal models we ensure the residuals are uncorrelated across space and time, thus allowing Event Studies test statistics to provide reliable and realistic estimates. Fourth, as expected, all test statistics show significant reductions in NO2\\documentclass[12pt]{minimal} \\usepackage{amsmath} \\usepackage{wasysym} \\usepackage{amsfonts} \\usepackage{amssymb} \\usepackage{amsbsy} \\usepackage{mathrsfs} \\usepackage{upgreek} \\setlength{\\oddsidemargin}{-69pt} \\begin{document}$$_2$$\\end{document} concentrations starting from the first few days of lockdown. Supplementary materials accompanying this paper appear online.

The importance of active-learning, student support, and peer teaching networks: A case study from the world’s longest COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne, Australia

In the Australian state of Victoria, the city of Melbourne endured the world’s longest number of lockdown days, with severe government health orders and travel restrictions in place for extended periods of 2020 and 2021. In common with others, we found the provision of field teaching in introductory geology, structural geology, and volcanology, and the online replacement of practical instruction in petrology and petrography to be the greatest pedagogical challenges. We developed and used a range of different virtual field excursions that, given time and travel constraints imposed on us, were necessarily “low-tech” and non-immersive. Despite this, our students largely engaged enthusiastically with the virtual excursions, met many preexisting learning goals, and gained additional skills, particularly in regional-scale geological synthesis. In teaching petrology and petrography online, curated resources improved student understanding of some fundamental concepts, and it was advantageous that students were all assessed using identical imagery, rather than one sample from a non-identical class-set. On the other hand, we found we were less able to train students in the advanced skills of thin section interpretation. Assessment changes associated with online teaching have resulted in a permanent shift from low-level recall-style assessments to instead emphasizing higher-level synthesis and “geological thinking” skills. Our efforts throughout the pandemic demonstrated the value of instructor-student engagement and yielded teaching resources that have subsequently enhanced our face-to-face teaching and increased flexibility for students. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of collaborative teaching practice and we have increasingly seen the benefits of local and national-scale teaching networks for peer support and for resource sharing.

Importance of public space, neighbors’ support, and safety in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown

The restrictions triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic, especially during the first weeks of confinement in 2020, entailed marked changes concerning urban socio-spatial relations. This article analyzes perceptions of the importance of public space, neighbors' support, neighborhood safety, and home safety before and during the initial months of the COVID-19 lockdown. We conducted an online survey between March and April 2020 in Quito, Ecuador, and applied quantitative and spatial methods to analyze the perceptions. The results show statistically significant differences in neighbors’ support, home safety, and neighborhood safety between normal days and lockdown days. The perceptions of the public space as non-important before the lockdown and the perceptions of not being safe at home or in the neighborhood are spatially random, not concentrated in a specific area of the city. Our findings also show that gender, the importance of public space during normal days, and the willingness of neighbors to support each other on lockdown days could explain the perception of the importance of public space on lockdown days. This research provides unique information to contribute with perspectives and discussions of public space and social dynamics in pandemic and post pandemic times.

Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Magnitude, Cause and Manner of Medico-legal Cases in A Tertiary Care Hospital, New Delhi

Nature and magnitude of medico-legal cases vary from hospital to hospital and from area to area and from time to time. Analysis of medico-legal cases can give an insight into the behaviours and activities of the people in and around the area. The present study was conducted at SSKH, Lady Hardinge Medical College, New Delhi from 1st January, 2021 till 31st June, 2022 to evaluate the impact of Covid-19 pandemic on the magnitude and nature of medico-legal cases. The number of MLCs were found reduced by 24% in the year 2020 (due to Omicron variant of Covid virus) and reduced further by 54% in the year 2021 (due to deadlier Delta variant of Covid virus) than the year 2019. In the year 2019, daily average of MLCs was 7.07. During the Covid-19 pandemic years 2020 and 2021, the daily average of the MLCs was dropped to 5.34. and 3.19 respectively. During the nation-wide complete lockdown in India from 24th March, 2020 till 14th April, 2020, the daily average of the MLCs had dropped to the minimum i.e. 1.5. Though the magnitude of MLCs reduced to great extent during lockdown days and pandemic years, however, no significant variations were noticed in nature (cause and manner) of medico-legal cases. Homicidal blunt force trauma, accidental road traffic collision and suicidal poisoning remained three major causes of medico-legal cases respectively in the years 2019, 2020 and 2021, almost in same proportions.

Unicorn Start-Up in India: Byju’s - An Economic Analysis

With digital penetration, EdTech start-ups are growing tremendously. One of the leading top-position EdTech start-ups is Byju’s which emerged during the period of the Covid era, there were the lockdown days the need for Byju’s services was immense. In the world, India (115 unicorns) is the largest unicorn start-up ecosystem which crossed the hundredth unicorn mark in 2022 after the USA (661 unicorns) and China (312 unicorns). Byju’s unicorn Start-up is the leading one among all the EdTech start-ups in India. The start-up easily achieve the unicorn status in the pandemic era as the online education technology needed by all the students from schools, colleges, and universities. In a post-pandemic world, the enterprise optimised the productivity of the employees to maximise profitability. Byju’s is an EdTech start-up that has unicorn status, extended not only in India but also in various countries. Since it was founded in 2011, many strategies followed to come up as the leading company in India. Recent data says, Byju’s had a global rank of 14, and it is valued at US $ 22 billion, with funding about $800 million. Byju’s attains a profitable EdTech unicorn start-up. As of April 2023, this giant EdTech start-up has over 150 million student registrations. An attempt was taken to analyse the role of Byju’s EdTech start-up in economic growth, and how it tackles the challenges of the present era.

Recommendation of Algorithm for Efficient Retrieval of Songs from Musical Dataset

Now-a-days, the research is more towards the entertainment like music, songs, movies, etc. There are many existing works that suggest good songs, movies to people depending on their mood, nature and time that has been savior for the society during the days of lockdown. The existing algorithms used in the literature for basic clustering are K-means, TSNE (T- distributed Stochastic Neighborhood Embedding), PCA (Principal Component Analysis).In this paper, the music dataset considered, consists of songs with attributes as song name, genres, artists, mode, tempo, valence, year, liveness, loudness, popularity, acousticness, danceability, duration, energy, explicit, instrumentalness, key. The important feature is extracted from the other features with the support of literature survey i.e., number of music listeners, types of the songs and type of the music. Later, the dataset is divided into clusters using traditional technique that is k-means based on genre, an important attribute which is selected from the above attributes. The different classifier models like Random Forest, Extra Trees, LightGBM, XGBoost, CatBoost classifier are applied on the clustered dataset and the results have been evaluated on each individual algorithm. Thus the paper recommends not only the group of relevant songs but also suggests the best accurate classification algorithm that can be used for any mentioned musical dataset. The paper also compares all the said ensemble algorithms by calculating the precision, recall, f1-score and support. The accuracy is also calculated for all said ensemble algorithms and based on the accuracy the best suitable algorithm is suggested.

Mathematical Models and Societal Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic: A Short Review

In this article we present a short and informative review on growth and impact of novel corona virus appeared in 2019. Almost entire world has been is the victim of this life-threatening virus. Here, we have discussed the growth of the COVID 19 in different parts of the world and how they are mathematically modelled. We have also discussed how different mathematical models predicts the minimisation of the growth by predicting the minimum days of lockdown. Further, the effect of effect of lockdown in everyday life and its societal impact are also highlighted.

Impact of Lockdown on Column and Surface Aerosol Content over Ahmedabad and a Comparison with the Indo-Gangetic Plain

Changes in vertical column concentration, size distribution, and surface concentration of aerosol associated with the lockdown imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 over the Ahmedabad region in Gujarat State, India, were analyzed. The results are compared with changes over selected Indo-Gangetic Plain (IGP) regions. On 25 March 2020, the prime minister of India declared a complete lockdown throughout the country and later lifted restrictions in a phased manner. Aerosol optical depth (AOD) over the Ahmedabad region on 29 March dropped to as low as 0.11, and in the first two weeks of lockdown, the weekly average AOD was only 0.18. On almost all days of the lockdown period, AOD over the Ahmedabad region was lower than the decadal mean. It was found that the Ahmedabad region responded differently to lockdown conditions compared to the IGP regions. During the first lockdown phase, AOD decreased by about 29% compared to the pre-lockdown period over the Ahmedabad region. However, the average reduction over the IGP was much more, about 50%. The average Angstrom exponent (AE) of 0.96 during the pre-lockdown period over the Ahmedabad region increased phase-wise to 1.36 during the L3 lockdown phase, indicating dominance of fine-mode particles during the lockdown period. It suggests a reduction in anthropogenically produced coarse-mode particles, typically dust produced by vehicular movement, construction, and industrial activities. However, on the other hand, over the IGP region, the high dominance of fine-mode particles during the pre-lockdown period had changed to a high dominance of coarse-mode particles, especially over the Delhi region. This indicates a reduction in anthropogenically produced fine-mode particles, which are mainly generated by fossil and biofuels/biomass combustion, over the IGP region by lockdown conditions. Within a few days of lockdown, PM2.5 was reduced by 64% and 76% over the Ahmedabad and Delhi regions, respectively. The lockdown imposed by the pandemic provided an excellent opportunity to ascertain background aerosol conditions in the atmosphere.

Life in lockdown: a qualitative study exploring the experience of living through the initial COVID-19 lockdown in the UK and its impact on diet, physical activity and mental health

BackgroundIn response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the UK imposed a national lockdown prompting change to daily routines. Among behaviours impacted by the lockdown, diet and physical activity may be particularly important due to their association with mental health and physical health. The aim of this study was to explore people’s experiences of how lockdown impacted their physical activity, dietary behaviours and mental health, with a view to informing public health promotion.MethodsThis phenomenological qualitative study used semi-structured telephone interviews. Interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. Thematic analysis was conducted, guided by the Framework Approach.ResultsForty participants (28 female) completed an interview (mean duration: 36 min) between May and July 2020. The overarching themes identified were (i) Disruption (loss of routines, social interaction and cues to physical activity) and (ii) Adaptation (structuring the day, accessing the outdoor environment, finding new ways for social support). The disruption to daily routines altered people’s cues for physical activity and eating; some participants spoke of comfort eating and increased alcohol intake in the early days of lockdown, and how they consciously tried to change these when restrictions lasted longer than first anticipated. Others spoke of adapting to the restrictions using food preparation and meals to provide both routine and social time for families. Disruptions from the closure of workplaces resulted in flexible working times for some, allowing for physical activity to be built into the day. In later stages of restrictions, physical activity became an opportunity for social interaction and several participants reported intending to continue to replace sedentary means of socialising (e.g., meeting in cafes) with more active, outdoor activities (e.g., walking) once restrictions were lifted. Staying active and building activity into the day was seen as important to support physical and mental health during the challenging times of the pandemic.ConclusionsWhilst many participants found the UK lockdown challenging, adaptations to cope with the restrictions presented some positive changes related to physical activity and diet behaviours. Helping people sustain their new healthier activities since restrictions have lifted is a challenge but presents an opportunity for public health promotion.

Effectiveness of lockdown to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 pandemic during its first wave in India

Background: Countries across the globe had adopted various prevention and control measures ranging from social distancing and isolation, to shutting down of nonessential services and countrywide lockdowns. The objective of the study was to assess the effectiveness of the nation-wide lockdown to prevent or delay the spread of COVID-19 in India. Methods: This was a cross sectional and descriptive study. We used the secondary data from WHO website, from 01 January to 30 October 2020. We calculated mean, median number of new cases, deaths reported per day and case fatality rate, using Microsoft excel spreadsheet. Results: There was a steady rise in number of cases and deaths in India, during the lockdown and unlock period from phase-1 to phase-4. Approximately 10-fold increase in death was reported in the duration of 68 days of lockdown from phase-1 to Phase 4. The number of cases reported in unlock phase-4 were approximately 6 times more compared to unlock phase 1. The case fatality rate per day had declined during the lockdown period, from 3 .4% to 2 .5% deaths per day. The case fatality rate was lowest during the peak of pandemic, 1.27% in September 2020. Indicating good care of hospitalized patients compared to initial stage of pandemic in India. Conclusions: Indian government had imposed complete sudden lockdown at the right time. The peak of pandemic was delayed or slowed down. Indicating the timing of lockdown is an essential step to save the lives in pandemic, in resource limited settings.