Infectious diseases of the coronavirus family were diagnosed in Wuhan, China in late December 2019, later renamed COVID-19 (Chen et al., 2020). In January 2020, the WHO (World Health Organization) confirmed the human-to-human transmission of COVID-19 by respiratory drops (WHO, 2020). Later that month, authorities confirmed a series of cases of COVID-19 in Wuhan, which grew rapidly not only in the surrounding areas but also spread across the country and the outbreak turned into a pandemic (Dutheil et al., 2020). On January 23, Wuhan was placed in solitary confinement, with Hubei province following in a few days. Later, the Chinese government shut down the whole country to reduce the spread of disease and reduce the burden on health facilities (Wilder-Smith and Freedman, 2020). Chinese authorities shut down public transportation, educational institutions, business centers, parks, and other communications facilities to curb the spread of COVID-19. On January 30, the WHO declared a public health emergency worldwide. In February, the outbreak began in Iran, Italy and other countries around the world. Later, the epidemic became a pandemic and by the end of March half the world's population was under some form of closure (Tosepu et al., 2020). As of April 16, 2020, the number of cases of COVID-19 exceeded 2.1 million worldwide, with the exception of more than 135,000 deaths (WHO, 2020).
When countries came in to close down industrial activities were closed worldwide. Among many other sectors, transportation is the most difficult sector due to the ban. Road and air traffic is suspended as people are not allowed or are reluctant to leave. According to the report, air travel decreased by 96% due to COVID-19, the lowest in 75 years (CNN, 2020). In addition, not only the transport sector but also the industries and industries that have been hit hardest by the epidemic. Demand for oil globally has dropped dramatically and prices have plummeted, as the industrial and transportation industries came to a standstill around the world. COVID-19 has a negative impact on human health and the global economy, yet it also leads to a reduction in pollution due to limited social and economic activities (Dutheil et al., 2020).
NO2 (nitrogen dioxide) is a highly contaminant and is released mainly from the combustion of minerals. Traffic pollution is considered a major source of NO2 emissions (He et al., 2020a, He et al., 2020b). NO2 is considered to be very harmful to human health as studies show that short-term and long-term exposure to NO2 can increase mortality (Faustini et al., 2014). NO2 can cause bronchial hyper reactions, cellular inflammation and respiratory problems (He et al., 2020a, He et al., 2020b). Each year 4.6 million people worldwide die as a result of global warming. Air pollution is a global problem and its effects can be felt even in developed nations like Europe where 193,000 people died as a result of air pollution in 2012 (Cohen et al., 2017).
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2. Pollution testing during COVID-19
Closure due to reduced COVID-19 transport leading to lower energy consumption and lower oil demand. These changes in transport operations and demand for oil have a significant impact on environmental quality. NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration) and ESA (European Space Agency) have released new evidence suggesting that the environment has improved and NO2 emissions have dropped to 30%. NASA collects data using OMI (Ozone Monitoring Instruments) on its AURA satellite. While, ESA collects data via Sentinel-5P satellite using TROPOMI (TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument). NASA and ESA released satellite images of various countries before and after the closure (Table 1).
Fig. 6 represents the release of NO2 in the northeastern United States between March 2015 to 2019 and March 2020. Satellite imagery was taken by NASA via AURA satellite using the OMI device. When NO2 emissions are reduced by up to 30% due to space closures in the northeastern USA (NASA, 2020).
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