{"id":20049129,"date":"2020-10-12T12:30:50","date_gmt":"2020-10-12T07:00:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thethirdpole.net\/?p=39384"},"modified":"2021-01-29T18:10:45","modified_gmt":"2021-01-29T12:40:45","slug":"air-pollution-could-worsen-covid-19-outbreak-in-south-asia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dialogue.earth\/en\/pollution\/air-pollution-could-worsen-covid-19-outbreak-in-south-asia\/","title":{"rendered":"Air pollution could worsen Covid-19 outbreak in South Asia"},"content":{"rendered":"

The dramatic drop<\/a> in air pollution after large swathes of South Asia shut down in response to Covid-19 was short-lived. Newly clean skies in cities from Peshawar to Guwahati stirred hope that action on South Asia\u2019s lethal air pollution was possible. But as lockdowns eased, pollution levels crept back up.
\nNow experts warn that bad air could worsen the spread and severity of the coronavirus pandemic this winter as South Asia descends into its annual smog season. Pollution levels peak every autumn and winter, when agricultural waste burning, industry, vehicle fumes and brick kilns combine to create a toxic soup.
\nBangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan have overtaken China and become home to the most polluted cities in the world. Millions of people die every year from breathing in poisonous air, with life expectancy cut by five years on average<\/a>. This rises to more than eight years in the most polluted areas of northern India.
\nSee<\/strong>: Toxic smog: the new normal in South Asia.<\/a>
\nBut governments have failed to act. In India, activists have rejected the government\u2019s National Clean Air Programme<\/a> as insufficient. While some real-time data is available in India, cities in Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal still lack basic equipment for monitoring air pollution, let alone a robust strategy to address the sources.
\nEvidence of pollution and Covid-19 links<\/strong>
\nEmerging studies, currently undergoing peer review, suggest that long-term exposure to air pollution before the pandemic is associated with severe symptoms from Covid-19 and a greater risk of death.
\nAcademics at Harvard University<\/a> looked at fatalities from the virus and historic levels of dangerous particulate matter, known as PM2.5, across the US. They found that high levels of particulate pollution in the years before the pandemic were associated with an 8% rise in Covid-19 death rates. Another study in the Netherlands found that a small increase in exposure to pollution raised the death rate by up to 21%, though the World Health Organization (WHO) said the methodology used and the results would need to be evaluated and overall, more data is needed to understand the way air pollution can affect the development of the disease.
\nWhile the evidence from South Asia is still scarce, public health experts in India are echoing the warning given by the WHO<\/a> and calling on the government to take immediate action.
\n\u201cOur worst fears are that as the winters arrive and air pollution rises this could compound the Covid-19 situation. Already our health infrastructure is under tremendous stress,\u201d said T.K. Joshi, health expert at India\u2019s Central Pollution Control Board and member of the prime minister\u2019s Covid-19 task force.
\nSpeaking about the connection between air pollution and the pandemic at a webinar organised by WWF India, Joshi said, \u201cThe quality of air has a bearing on a person\u2019s immunity. Air pollution is definitely going to make the situation worse.\u201d
\nIndia has been hit very hard by the pandemic, with the second-largest number of cases in the world after the US and its case load rising by around 70,000 a day at the beginning of October. After malnutrition, the WHO has identified air pollution as the country\u2019s most severe public health risk.
\n\u201cThe double whammy of poor air quality and exposure to the virus will certainly aggravate the existing public health crisis in India,\u201d said Poornima Prabhakaran, an epidemiologist and deputy director of the Centre for Environmental Health, Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI).
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