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Review
. 2020;17(11):4655-4666.
doi: 10.1007/s13762-020-02910-x. Epub 2020 Sep 1.

Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and its natural environmental impacts

P F Rupani  1 , M Nilashi  2 , R A Abumalloh  3 , S Asadi  4 , S Samad  5 , S Wang  1
Affiliations
Review

Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and its natural environmental impacts

P F Rupani et al. Int J Environ Sci Technol (Tehran). 2020.

Abstract

Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) is the official name of a respiratory infectious disease caused by a new coronavirus that started first in Wuhan, China, and outspread worldwide with an unexpectedly fast speed. Flights have been canceled worldwide and transportation has been closed nationwide and across international borders. As a consequence, the economic activity has been stopped and stock markets have been dropped. The COVID-19 lockdown has several social and economic effects. Additionally, COVID-19 has caused several impacts on global migration. On the other hand, such lockdown, along with minimal human mobility, has impacted the natural environment somewhat positively. Overall carbon emissions have dropped, and the COVID-19 lockdown has led to an improvement in air quality and a reduction in water pollution in many cities around the globe. A summary of the existing reports of the environmental impacts of COVID-19 pandemic are discussed and the important findings are presented focusing on several aspects: air pollution, waste management, air quality improvements, waste fires, wildlife, global migration, and sustainability.

Keywords: Air pollution; CO2 emissions; Coronavirus pandemic; Economics; Environmental impacts.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
COVID-19 pandemic, global confirmed and death cases
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) and its environmental impacts
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Deaths due to the Air Pollution in 2017 (Health Effects Institute State of Global Air, 2019)
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
CO2 emissions in 2020 compared to 2019 (Liu et al., 2020)
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
COVID-19′s effect on waste and recycling fires in US/CAN (Fogelman, 2020)
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
Environmental variables related to COVID-19
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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