Air pollution has fallen dramatically for these cities

Confinement measures imposed to slow the spread of the coronavirus pandemic has resulted in an unprecedented fall of deadly air pollutants around the world, according to new research.

IQAir, a Swiss-based air quality technology company, compared measurements of the world’s deadliest air pollutant — “fine particulate matter” known as PM2.5 — before and during the Covid-19 outbreak in 10 major cities across the globe.

The findings, published Wednesday, revealed a “drastic drop” in air pollution for almost all of the cities under lockdown when compared to the same period a year earlier.

India’s New Delhi recorded a 60% fall of PM2.5 compared to 2019 levels, South Korea’s Seoul registered a 54% drop over the same period, while the fall in China’s Wuhan came in at 44%.

The study also found the city of Wuhan experienced its cleanest air quality on record through February and March this year, while the city of Los Angeles in the U.S. experienced its longest-ever stretch of clean air — meeting the United Nation’s recommended air quality guidelines.

The data was based on a three-week timeframe to reflect either the most stringent lockdown measures in each city or to coincide with the peak number of daily reported Covid-19 infections.

Major cities with historically higher levels of deadly air pollutants witnessed the most substantial drop in PM2.5, the analysis found.

PM2.5 is smaller than 2.5 micrometers in diameter and is widely regarded as the pollutant that poses the greatest threat to health of all commonly measured air pollutants.

Its small size means the particulate matter can penetrate deep into the human respiratory system and the bloodstream, IQAir researchers said, potentially causing a wide range of short and long-term health effects.

Air pollution is already a global public health crisis. It kills an estimated 7 million people worldwide every year, according to the WHO, with nine out of 10 people thought to be breathing air containing high levels of pollutants.

Separately, the Covid-19 outbreak has meant countries around the world have effectively had to shut down, with many governments imposing draconian restrictions on the daily lives of billions of people. It has created an extraordinary demand shock in energy markets, with mobility brought close to a standstill.

To date, confinement measures have been implemented in 187 countries or territories in an effort to try to slow the spread of the pandemic.

The IQAir analysis studied the air quality in 10 major global cities under coronavirus lockdown: New Delhi, India; London, U.K.; Los Angeles, U.S.; Milan, Italy; Mumbai, India; New York, U.S.; Rome, Italy; Sao Paulo, Brazil; Seoul, South Korea and Wuhan, China.

India’s capital city New Delhi regularly tops the world’s most polluted city lists. But as well as a significant drop in pollutants, the IQAir data showed that the number of hours that air quality in the city was rated as “unhealthy” during the initial three-week lockdown period dropped to 17% in 2020, from 68% a year earlier.

Of all of the cities studied in the report, only Rome, Italy recorded a higher number of PM2.5 over a three-week period of coronavirus lockdown in 2020 when compared with 2019 levels.

The capital city recorded a 30% increase in particle pollution, despite an increase in the number of hours that met WHO guidelines.

The authors of the report noted that domestic heating was a “significant source” of air pollution in Rome from November last year through to April 2020. As such, increased reliance on residential heating systems could be part of the reason behind these findings, the study said.