Air Quality Improvement Following COVID-19 Lockdown Measures and Projected Benefits for Environmental Health

Many regions worldwide suffer from heavy air pollution caused by particulate matter (PM2.5) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2), resulting in a huge annual disease burden significant welfare costs. Following the outbreak of COVID-19 global pandemic, enforced curfews restrictions on human mobility (so-called periods ‘lockdown’) have become important measures to control spread virus. This study aims investigate improvement quality following lockdown projected benefits for environmental health. China was chosen as case study. The work projects premature deaths costs integrating PM2.5 NO2 pollutant measurements derived satellite imagery (MODIS instruments Terra Aqua, TROPOMI Sentinel-5P) with census data archived Organization Economic Co-operation Development (OECD). A 91-day timeframe centred initial date 23 January 2020 investigated. To perform projections, OECD five variables 1990 2019 (mean population exposure ambient PM2.5, deaths, costs, gross domestic product population) were used training run Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average (ARIMA) multiple regression models. analysis revealed that across Beijing, Hebei, Shandong, Henan, Xi’an, Shanghai Hubei, average concentrations decreased 6.2, 30.7, 14.1, 20.7, 29.3, 5.5 17.3%, while 45.5, 54.7, 60.5, 58.7, 63.6, 50.5 66.5%, respectively, during period 2020, compared equivalent 2019. Such improvements found be beneficial, reducing both number approximately 97,390 over USD 74 billion.