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Published on: November 10, 2023
Impact of the COVID-19 Epidemic: Scenario in a Tropical Environment
1Space and Atmospheric Sciences Division, Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, 380009 India.
Abstract:
The present study investigates the association of COVID-19 virus transmission with atmospheric and air quality parameters including temperature, moisture, particulate matter (PM), and nitrogen dioxide (NO2). The variation in the reproduction number (R 0; a measure to reflect the infectiousness of a disease) for COVID-19 transmission is evaluated for tropical and mid-latitude countries. Results suggest that mid-latitude atmospheric conditions are more favorable to COVID-19 transmission as compared to the tropical atmosphere. The peak value of R 0 was noted as 2.35 (95% CI 2.11-2.57) on 23 March 2020, and it decreased significantly due to strict lockdown from 25 March 2020 to 1 April 2020. The R 0 value further increased after 1 April 2020 over India, and the value of R 0 was found to be greater than 1, indicating that the epidemic was active. Moreover, the present study was also extended to understand the impact of global/Indian lockdowns on air quality and R 0 value for COVID-19 transmission. Our findings revealed that the global/Indian lockdown helped reduce the R 0 value of COVID-19 transmission, which is associated with atmospheric and air quality parameters. Furthermore, a significant reduction in air pollution over India during the lockdown also has implications for continued exploration of clean energy prospects in the future.
Supplementary Information:
The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s00024-021-02793-0.
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