IMPACT OF CORONAVIRUS ON AIR QUALITY: BENEFITS OVER HARM?

The coronavirus pandemic is one of the most devastating crises in recent times. The first coronavirus case was reported on the 31st of December 2019 in Wuhan, China (World Health Organization, 2020), and, to date (as of May 2021) more than 170 million cases have been reported, with 3.54 million deaths, in 220 countries and territories (Worldometer). With the advent of the coronavirus, there has been a considerable impact on the environments air quality. This study does two case studies - in New York and New Delhi - to evaluate the change in air quality before and during the pandemic. The lockdowns led to the closure of public spaces, with limited access to only the essentials. However, owing to the lifting of these restrictions, the emissions of air pollutants have again soared to extremely high levels, outweighing the benefits of the reduction in emissions of pollutants during the peak of the pandemic.