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Review
. 2021 Feb 15:280:111700.
doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2020.111700. Epub 2020 Nov 25.

Epidemiology and diagnosis, environmental resources quality and socio-economic perspectives for COVID-19 pandemic

Affiliations
Review

Epidemiology and diagnosis, environmental resources quality and socio-economic perspectives for COVID-19 pandemic

Surindra Suthar et al. J Environ Manage. .

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic caused by SARS-CoV-2 has emerged as a global issue of concern for public health, environment and socio-economic setup. This review addresses several aspects of epidemiology, and pathogenesis, environmental resource quality (air quality, hazardous waste management, and wastewater surveillance issues), and socio-economic issues worldwide. The accelerated research activity in the development of diagnostic kits for SARS-CoV-2 is in progress for the rapid sequencing of various strains of SARS-CoV-2. A notable reduction in air pollutants (NO2 and PM2.5) has been observed worldwide, but high air polluted cities showed intense mortalities in COVID-19 affected areas. The use of health safety equipment halted transportation, and work-from-home policy drastically impacted the quantity of solid and hazardous wastes management services. Wastewater appeared as another mode of enteric transmission of SARS-CoV-2. Thus, wastewater-based surveillance could act as a mode of the data source to track the virus's community spread. The pandemic also had a substantial socio-economic impact (health budget, industrial manufacturing, job loss, and unemployment) and further aggravated the countries' economic burden.

Keywords: Air pollution; COVID-19; Socio-economic aspects; Solid waste management; Wastewater surveillance.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Image 1
Graphical abstract
Fig. 1
Fig. 1
SARS-CoV-2 pictorial representation depicting structural and functional proteins (a) and genomic segments responsible for generation of a functional viral particle (b).
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
SARS-CoV-2: Modes of transmission and precautionary measures along with survival on various surfaces (Sources: Nghiem et al., 2020a; Steffens, 2020).
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
NO2 concentration comparison between five-year average (2015–2019) and year 2020 for same months (January 2020 and June 2020) in three severally affected parts of the world by COVID-19 (a) USA, (b) Europe, and (c) Asia. Source: Global Nitrogen Dioxide Program (Source: NASA, 2020b).
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
PM2.5 reductions in 10 major cities worldwide during the period 23 March – 13 April 2020 of the COVID-19 (Source: IQAir, 2020).
Fig. 5
Fig. 5
Wastewater surveillance as an early warning system for COVID-19 (Randazzo et al., 2020a).
Fig. 6
Fig. 6
MSW collection in urban areas of developing countries and its possible role in COVID-19 dispersal.
Fig. 7
Fig. 7
Pseudo 3D plot.

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