COVID-19 Pandemic has almost halted the whole world with people taking shelter in their homes to curb the spread of the virus it has led to some positives for the planet Earth. A new report by IQAir reveals that major cities like Delhi, London, Los Angeles, Milan, Mumbai, New York City, São Paulo, Seoul, Wuhan, and Rome have seen a significant change in the air pollution.
On average days all these mentioned cities are choked with worse air quality in the world and the biggest drop has been seen in the presence of fine particulate matter or soot. Delhi, India has seen a 60 percent reduction in air pollution over a three-week period compared with the same period over last year.
Similarly Seoul, South Korea has seen a drop of 54 percent while the presence of Soot in Wuhan, China dropped by 44 percent and Mumbai has seen a drop of 34 percent.
Switzerland-based IQAir makes air purifiers and pollution monitors and also maintains online air quality maps. In a collaboration with the United Nations, the company has developed an interactive real-time map that displays the air quality of major cities around the world. It also maintains a ranking of most polluted cities around the world in real-time.
Earlier NASA shared maps in early March representing a dramatic drop in the presence of Nitrogen Dioxide in China, another pollutant that pumps out of the airways. NASA similarly saw a 30 percent reduction in nitrogen dioxide emissions over the Northeast United States in March this year.
The current improvement in the air quality is not forecast to last as the Air Pollution is expected to rebound after the restriction will be removed after the pandemic loosen.
