![]() ![]() Highly industrialized cities located in cold climate zones observed a higher reduction in air pollution 9. Climate scientists have indicated that greenhouse gaseous (GHGs) concentration could drop to levels not seen since World War II. Recent studies have reported improvement in air quality due to restrictions placed upon industrial activities during the lockdown. The United Nations Environment Program chief Inger Andersen believes these environmental changes are temporary 7, as the global environment had a small respite before industrial activities resumed since February 2020. While the socio-economic devastation due to COVID-19 has been colossal around the world, which required "a wartime" plan from every corner of the world 7 it has also come as the silver lining for the environment 8. The timeline of the various COVID-19 lockdown phases in India 6 is depicted in Fig. Divided into different phases, the lockdown was marked by increasing relaxations in socio-economic activities in less infected regions. A 21-day nationwide lockdown phase-1 was enforced from March 25 to April 14, which was extended further until May 31, 2020. The Indian railways shut down its operations on March 23, 2020, for the first time in its history spanning over 167 years. International travel and non-essential traveling visas were suspended on March 13, 2020. India took unprecedented measures to contain the infection from across borders and within its territory. In India, a student who had returned from Wuhan, China, was the first COVID-19 positive case recorded on January 30 in Kerala 5. ![]() This led to 2–4 weeks of regional lockdowns to limit the spread of the virus, all of which have subsequently restricted economic activities around the world leading to different regional repercussions 4. As COVID-19 is highly transmissible, along with a high mortality rate 2, countries worldwide have taken various precautionary measures, such as large scale COVID-19 screening tests, quarantine, social distancing, wearing of mask, sanitization of hands, etc 3. By July 8, 2020, it spread to more than 210 countries worldwide, infecting over 11 million people and causing 539,026 mortalities 1. ![]() In early March 2020, due to its rapid spread, the WHO declared COVID-19 as a pandemic. The novel coronavirus termed as COVID-19 by World Health Organization (WHO), first emerged in late December 2019 in Wuhan, China. ![]() The comparison between the two cities found that factors like distance from the Arabian coast and different industrial setups played a vital role in different emission trends. Later, increases in other pollutants were also observed as the restrictions were eased during phase-4 and unlock 1. The results revealed different patterns of gradual to a rapid reduction in most of the pollutant concentrations (PM 10, PM 2.5, CO, SO 2), and an increment in ozone concentration was observed due to a drastic reduction in NO 2 by 80.18%. A meta-analysis of continuous data was performed to determine the mean and standard deviation of each lockdown phase, and their differences were computed in percentage in comparison to 2019 along with the linear correlation analysis and linear regression analysis to determine the relationship among the air pollutants and their trend for the lockdown days. We compared air quality data for the unlock phase with a coinciding period in 2019 to determine the changes in pollutant concentrations during the lockdown, analyzing daily AQI data for six pollutants (PM 10, PM 2.5, CO, NO 2, O 3, and SO 2). The AQI data obtained from the Central Pollution Control Board was assessed for four lockdown phases. Utilizing the air quality index (AQI) data recorded during this adverse time, the present study is undertaken to assess the impact of lockdown on the air quality of Ankleshwar and Vapi, Gujarat, India. The lockdown has led to colossal economic loss to India however, it has come as a respite to the environment. On January 30, 2020, India recorded its first COVID-19 positive case in Kerala, which was followed by a nationwide lockdown extended in four different phases from 25th March to 31st May, 2020, and an unlock period thereafter. ![]()
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