Impact of Lockdown on Air Pollutants during COVID-19 at Patna, India

Abstract

Many countries shut their borders, imposed nationwide lockdown, and restricted several anthropogenic activities to arrest the spread of COVID-19. In the present study, the concentration of several air pollutants(PM₁₀, PM_2.5, NO₂, NH₃, SO₂, CO and O₃) during different phases of lockdown from monitoring stations of Patna was analyzed to assess the effect of lockdown restriction on air quality. Reduction in PM_2.5, NH₃, NO₂, PM₁₀ and CO concentration was observed by 59.79%, 58.2%, 49.49%, 39.57% and 24.04%, respectively during the lockdown period. National Air Quality Index(NAQI) value in the year 2020 had been observed to lower by 57.88% compared to the year 2019, during the same period. A more significant fall in the concentration of air pollutants was observed during the early phase of post-lockdown compared to the late stages of post-lockdown. The study reflects the significance of restriction on anthropogenic activities in improving air quality and provides clues for future action plans for improving air quality.