Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Mar 27;18(7):3488.
doi: 10.3390/ijerph18073488.

Eco-Environmental Aspects of COVID-19 Pandemic and Potential Control Strategies

Rashid Nazir  1 , Jawad Ali  2 , Ijaz Rasul  3 , Emilie Widemann  4 , Sarfraz Shafiq  5
Affiliations
Review

Eco-Environmental Aspects of COVID-19 Pandemic and Potential Control Strategies

Rashid Nazir et al. Int J Environ Res Public Health. .

Abstract

A new coronavirus-strain from a zoonotic reservoir (probably bat)-termed as severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)-has recently claimed more than two million deaths worldwide. Consequently, a burst of scientific reports on epidemiology, symptoms, and diagnosis came out. However, a comprehensive understanding of eco-environmental aspects that may contribute to coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) spread is still missing, and we therefore aim to focus here on these aspects. In addition to human-human direct SARS-CoV-2 transmission, eco-environmental sources, such as air aerosols, different public use objects, hospital wastes, livestock/pet animals, municipal wastes, ventilation facilities, soil and groundwater potentially contribute to SARS-CoV-2 transmission. Further, high temperature and humidity were found to limit the spread of COVID-19. Although the COVID-19 pandemic led to decrease air and noise pollution during the period of lockdown, increased use of masks and gloves is threatening the environment by water and soil pollutions. COVID-19 badly impacted all the socio-economic groups in different capacities, where women, slum dwellers, and the people lacking social protections are the most vulnerable. Finally, sustainable strategies, waste management, biodiversity reclaim, eco-friendly lifestyle, improved health infrastructure and public awareness, were proposed to minimize the COVID-19 impact on our society and environment. These strategies will seemingly be equally effective against any future outbreak.

Keywords: COVID-19; SARS-CoV-2; disease outbreak; ecology; environment; viral spread; virus.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic depiction of the eco-environmental aspects for potential COVID-19 (direct and indirect) human-to-human spread through (in) the human whereabouts.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Presentation of the proposed sustainable human lifestyle to improve the environment, especially in the context of disease outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Everard M., Johnston P., Santillo D., Staddon C. The Role of Ecosystems in Mitigation and Management of Covid-19 and Other Zoonoses. Environ. Sci. Policy. 2020;111:7–17. doi: 10.1016/j.envsci.2020.05.017. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Yeh K.B., Fair J.M., Smith W., Torres T.M., Lucas J., Monagin C., Winegar R., Fletcher J. Assessing Climate Change Impact on Ecosystems and Infectious Disease: Important Roles for Genomic Sequencing and a One Health Perspective. Trop. Med. Infect. Dis. 2020;5:90. doi: 10.3390/tropicalmed5020090. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. French R.K., Holmes E.C. An Ecosystems Perspective on Virus Evolution and Emergence. Trends Microbiol. 2019;28:165–175. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2019.10.010. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Malik Y.S., Sircar S., Bhat S., Sharun K., Dhama K., Dadar M., Tiwari R., Chaicumpa W. Emerging Novel Coronavirus (2019-NCoV)—Current Scenario, Evolutionary Perspective Based on Genome Analysis and Recent Developments. Vet. Q. 2020;40:68–76. doi: 10.1080/01652176.2020.1727993. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Li Q., Guan X., Wu P., Wang X., Zhou L., Tong Y., Ren R., Leung K.S.M., Lau E.H.Y., Wong J.Y., et al. Early Transmission Dynamics in Wuhan, China, of Novel Coronavirus–Infected Pneumonia. N. Engl. J. Med. 2020;382:1199–1207. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2001316. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources