Environmental Impacts of COVID-19 Lockdown: National and Global Scenario

Abstract

The unforeseen COVID-19 has spread over the world, affecting almost 5 million people in 213 countries. Lockdown measures havebeen implemented in several nations, limiting people to their homes and substantially curtailing economic and social activity. Theimplementation of lockdown halted all the industrial, social, and commercial activities, and had a positive impact on environmentalparameters viz., air, water, noise, biodiversity, and wildlife. The decrease in PM10, PM2.5, CO, NO2were recorded with an average value of43, 31, 10, and 18%, respectively because of the reduction in transportation and industrial emission in India. Considerable recovery ofwater quality in lotic ecosystems was observed at several places in the world. Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, the global lockdown hasalso dropped the noise level ranging from 2.1 dB to 6 dB at several places viz., Europe, Colombia and USA. Wildlife and biodiversity ofthe world had responded to the COVID-19 shutdown. Human movements in national parks and metropolitan cities through vehiclesand other transportation have decreased by 75% to 95%, due to which various wildlife and other creatures had faced fewer humaninterferences. During the pandemic, China and Lebanon had produced 240 metric tons and 1.3 tonnes of biomedical waste, respectivelyper day. India has generated around 28,747.91 tonnes of biological waste during the pandemic lockdown. The global pandemiclockdown has given Mother Nature a chance to replenish, but the policy and strategies are required immediately for the confinementof biomedical waste generation and further scientific management.