Studies suggest that areas with higher air pollution levels experience higher rates of coronavirus infection and fatalities. ‘State of Global Air 2020’ report, released recently, finds that long-term exposure to air pollution contributed to around 6.7 million deaths in 2019.
By Nabeela Khan
Autumn arrives and so do concerns about air pollution in Delhi. The poor air quality this month in the capital city increases the anxiety, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the ‘State of Global Air 2020’ report, released on Oct 21, 2020, long-term exposure to air pollution contributed to around 6.7 million deaths globally from stroke, heart attack, diabetes, lung cancer, chronic lung diseases, and neonatal diseases in 2019, with China (1.8 million) and India (1.6 million) together accounting for more than half of such deaths.
Lung factor
While India struggles with COVID-19, another added crisis could lead to an increase in coronavirus cases. Dr. Pradeep Krishnatry, former director, John Hopkins Centre India said, “Air pollution and COVID pandemic are two routes to a common destination – lungs. If one damages health overtime, the other simply takes it away. Together, they are a statement of warning.”
Most coronavirus patients complain of breathing difficulties and if the air becomes further polluted, there are chances that more people may need hospitalisation.
“There are multiple studies from the UK, Europe and the US stating that air pollution is associated with more severe disease admissions and mortality,” said Dr Binil Salam, Pulmonologist, MVR Cancer centre, Kerala.
Air pollution is now the fourth-highest cause of death among all health risks, ranking just below high BP, tobacco use, and poor diet said the report. It further stated that a few early studies of COVID-19 similarly appear to suggest that areas with higher air pollution levels experience higher rates of infection or case fatalities. Dr. Salam further highlighted that “cities with higher NO2 levels, more PM2.5 concentrations were implicated with more deaths”.
Cause for concern
For the first time, the ‘State of Global Air 2020’ has included statistics on how pollution affects babies in their first month of life. Outdoor and household particulate matter pollution contributed to the deaths of 5,00,000 infants globally and 1,16,000 infants in India, in their first month of life.
The report said that Ozone pollution and ambient particulate matter pollution were two of the biggest contributors to deaths across the world. PM2.5 pollution contributed to nearly three million early deaths in 2017. More than half of this disease burden fell on people living in China and India.
In India, over the last decade, 3.73 lakh deaths were linked to exposure to high PM 2.5 levels and 76,500 deaths were linked to high ozone exposure. The only silver lining for India is that the global burden of disease from household air pollution has decreased from 73 percent to 61 percent over the decade. A key reason attributable to this reduction is the government’s scheme to distribute LPG cylinders, leading to dramatic reductions in exposure to household air pollution and reduced dependence on solid fuels.
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