Large improvements of air quality in China during the COVID-19 lockdown have been widely reported, but new research reveals that the two pollutants most harmful to human health, fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and ozone, were only slightly reduced.
The study, by scientists from the University of Leeds, UK and the Southern University of Science and Technology, China, analysed air pollutant concentrations from China’s national network of around 1,300 monitoring stations to quantify the response of air pollution across China during the COVID-19 lockdown.
They found that the falls in some air pollutants like nitrogen dioxide (NO2) were substantial, whereas other pollutants like particulate matter (PM) and ozone pollution were only slightly reduced or barely affected.
The study is published today in the IOP Publishing journal Environmental Research Letters.
Senior author Professor Dominick Spracklen, from the University of Leeds, said: «Although China’s air quality has improved in recent years, indoor and outdoor air pollution still has serious health impacts, with 12 per cent of deaths in China in 2017 attributable to it.
«Understanding trends in air quality is therefore essential to assess the effectiveness of recent air quality measures and help inform future air pollution mitigation. The application of control measures during the COVID-19 outbreak enabled us to analyse the potential air quality improvements resulting from a reduction in emissions.»
To understand the impact of the control measures during the COVID-19 outbreak, the researchers compared pollutant concentrations in 2020 with expected concentrations had the COVID-19 outbreak not occurred.
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Materials provided by IOP Publishing. Original written by Simon Davies. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.