Hyderabad: A research study covering 300 districts across India including Hyderabad, Vijayawada and Visakhapatnam, shows that air quality plays an important role in the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. The study suggests that improving air quality, along with appropriately stringent regulations, can help reduce infection and mortality rates whenever COVID-19 cases peak.
The study covering the summer, monsoon and winter seasons over one year (April 2020 to March 2021) shows that among air pollutants, atmospheric ozone was better correlated with the number of infections, followed by aerosol thickness, carbon monoxide , was nitrogen dioxide, black carbon. and sulfur dioxide.
The researchers found that among weather parameters, air temperature, incoming short-wave radiation, wind speed were positively and significantly associated with outbreak patterns, and precipitation (precipitation) and humidity were negatively associated with confirmed cases. are categorically correlated.
There was more conflict in the coastal districts during the pandemic
Mere cloud cover has no meaningful relationship. According to the study published in online preprint portal MedRxiv on July 1, coastal districts and areas located in the plains and low-lying areas experienced a bitter situation during this pandemic.
The spatial distribution of cases also showed that coastal districts were unfortunately more afflicted than districts located in the interior of the country, while districts in the Himalayan Mountains and its foothills had less conflict during the pandemic. The study found that in other areas, Andhra Pradesh I had breathed very bad air. It also states that AP, being primarily a coastal state, reports more Covid-19 infections than Telangana, which is far from the coast.
The research team of Amitesh Gupta and Laboni Saha of Savitribai Phule Pune University and RBZ Services Pvt Ltd, New Delhi investigated the role of regional meteorological and air quality parameters in the outbreak patterns of the Covid-19 pandemic. They used a remote sensing-based dataset of 12 environmental variables to correlate the number of infected cases at the district level.
“Our conscientious study suggests that the summer tropical environment may leave a more positive situation for novel coronavirus transmission. Instead of crushing the Covid-19 curve, higher air temperatures could go a long way in aggravating the pandemic situation in India. The comparatively strong wind in arid regions may prompt the virus to spread further,” the researchers said.
The districts along the coast and along the coast reported maximum cases during May to July 2020, which is the period of onset of monsoon over the Indian subcontinent, thus experiencing high wind from sea to land. Warmer climatic conditions may result in an increase in respiratory infections as a result of rapid weather variability. The study noted that high ambient temperatures may inhibit the adaptive immune response to virus infection.
The study showed that 35.03% districts had reported cases within the range of 10,000 to 1,00,000, while only 3.05% districts had reported more than one lakh cases during this period. Most of the districts recorded the count of infectious cases within the range of 2,500-5,000 followed by the range of 10,000-25,000. In this, more than one lakh infected cases have also been found in 21 states.
“Interestingly, temporal trends of pollutants showed comparatively higher concentrations during winter and post-monsoon seasons, while infections were relatively low in both those seasons. Hence, it suggests that poor air quality may not be solely to blame for the coronavirus spread in India, but rather poor air,” the researchers said.
The study covering the summer, monsoon and winter seasons over one year (April 2020 to March 2021) shows that among air pollutants, atmospheric ozone was better correlated with the number of infections, followed by aerosol thickness, carbon monoxide , was nitrogen dioxide, black carbon. and sulfur dioxide.
The researchers found that among weather parameters, air temperature, incoming short-wave radiation, wind speed were positively and significantly associated with outbreak patterns, and precipitation (precipitation) and humidity were negatively associated with confirmed cases. are categorically correlated.
There was more conflict in the coastal districts during the pandemic
Mere cloud cover has no meaningful relationship. According to the study published in online preprint portal MedRxiv on July 1, coastal districts and areas located in the plains and low-lying areas experienced a bitter situation during this pandemic.
The spatial distribution of cases also showed that coastal districts were unfortunately more afflicted than districts located in the interior of the country, while districts in the Himalayan Mountains and its foothills had less conflict during the pandemic. The study found that in other areas, Andhra Pradesh I had breathed very bad air. It also states that AP, being primarily a coastal state, reports more Covid-19 infections than Telangana, which is far from the coast.
The research team of Amitesh Gupta and Laboni Saha of Savitribai Phule Pune University and RBZ Services Pvt Ltd, New Delhi investigated the role of regional meteorological and air quality parameters in the outbreak patterns of the Covid-19 pandemic. They used a remote sensing-based dataset of 12 environmental variables to correlate the number of infected cases at the district level.
“Our conscientious study suggests that the summer tropical environment may leave a more positive situation for novel coronavirus transmission. Instead of crushing the Covid-19 curve, higher air temperatures could go a long way in aggravating the pandemic situation in India. The comparatively strong wind in arid regions may prompt the virus to spread further,” the researchers said.
The districts along the coast and along the coast reported maximum cases during May to July 2020, which is the period of onset of monsoon over the Indian subcontinent, thus experiencing high wind from sea to land. Warmer climatic conditions may result in an increase in respiratory infections as a result of rapid weather variability. The study noted that high ambient temperatures may inhibit the adaptive immune response to virus infection.
The study showed that 35.03% districts had reported cases within the range of 10,000 to 1,00,000, while only 3.05% districts had reported more than one lakh cases during this period. Most of the districts recorded the count of infectious cases within the range of 2,500-5,000 followed by the range of 10,000-25,000. In this, more than one lakh infected cases have also been found in 21 states.
“Interestingly, temporal trends of pollutants showed comparatively higher concentrations during winter and post-monsoon seasons, while infections were relatively low in both those seasons. Hence, it suggests that poor air quality may not be solely to blame for the coronavirus spread in India, but rather poor air,” the researchers said.
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