Air Pollution & COVID-19: The Inter-Connectivity, Consequences and Deaths.
- 4th April 2021
- Mumbai, India
- Climate Change | Pollution
Written By: Mohamed Arshad
The deaths related to COVID-19 and air pollution, according to the researchers, are "potentially influencing mortality rates". According to a new report published by German Scientists, the long-term toxicity of Air Pollution could be related to 15% of COVID-19 deaths worldwide. A study published in the Cardiovascular Research Journal, looked at health and disease data from a global perspective according to which, the countries with the highest pollution rates suffered the most number of respiratory diseases deaths related to the COVID-19 Virus.
In order to measure the extent to which air pollution could be accounted for COVID-19 deaths, the authors used Space Stations data of global exposure to particulate matter and microscopic elements – as well as real-time air pollution monitoring networks. The authors discovered that poor air quality was responsible for 27% of COVID-19 deaths in Asian countries, which have some of the world's highest levels of toxic emissions. In Europe and the USA, it was 16% and 19% respectively. The research team also reported that deaths linked to COVID-19 and air pollution were of a "significantly, high-rating mortality rates" and that breathing polluted air and particulate matter in the air would possibly have fatal consequences when infected with SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.
“When long-term exposure to air pollution and infection with the COVID-19 virus are combined, we have a negative impact on health, especially in the heart and blood vessels,” said Thomas Munzel, one of the research authors. He further added that over 6,100 coronavirus deaths within the UK may be attributed to air pollution. Within the USA, that figure is just about 40,000 and with developing nations like Brazil and India, it would be more than 100,000 approximately. According to statistics released by Johns Hopkins University, over 1 million individuals have died from COVID-19 since the pandemic began. According to the writers, pollution can still kill massive numbers of individuals long when the pandemic has passed unless there's a forceful shift in how cities fuel themselves, together with a transition to wash and renewable energy sources. They also published, "The pandemic can end with mass vaccination or herd immunities through a pervasive infection of the population." “On the other hand, there are no vaccines for poor air quality or climate change. The solution is to reduce emissions by adopting sustainable Practices and Protecting our Green Cover.
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Source: Al Jazeera News, Science Direct
Image Source: Google