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. 2021 Sep 3;19(2):1801-1806.
doi: 10.1007/s40201-021-00735-5. eCollection 2021 Dec.

Contrasting Iran's air quality improvement during COVID-19 with other global cities

Mohsen Yazdani  1   2 , Zeynab Baboli  3 , Heidar Maleki  1   2 , Yaser Tahmasebi Birgani  4   5 , Maryam Zahiri  2 , Seyede Saba Heydari Chaharmahal  2 , Mahdis Goudarzi  2 , Mohammad Javad Mohammadi  1   4   5 , Khan Alam  6 , Armin Sorooshian  7   8 , Gholamreza Goudarzi  1   4   5
Affiliations

Contrasting Iran's air quality improvement during COVID-19 with other global cities

Mohsen Yazdani et al. J Environ Health Sci Eng. .

Abstract

Background and purpose: In late 2019, a novel infectious disease (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan China, which turned into a global pandemic. Countries all over the world have implemented some sort of lockdown to slow down its infection and mitigate it. This study investigated the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on air quality during 1st January to 30th April 2020 compared to the same period in 2016-2019 in ten Iranian cities and four major cities in the world.

Methods: In this study, the required data were collected from reliable sites. Then, using SPSS and Excel software, the data were analyzed in two intervals before and after the corona pandemic outbreak. The results are provided within tables and charts.

Results: The current study showed the COVID-19 lockdown positively affected Iran's air quality. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the four-month mean air quality index (AQI) values in Tehran, Wuhan, Paris, and Rome were 76, 125, 55, and 60, respectively, which are 8 %, 22 %, 21 %, and 2 % lower than those during the corresponding period (83, 160, 70, and 61) from 2016 to 2019.

Conclusions: Although the outbreak of coronavirus has imposed devastating impacts on economy and health, it can have positive effects on air quality, according to the results.

Keywords: AQI; Air quality; COVID-19; Coronavirus; Lockdown.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of interestThe authors declare that they have no known conflict of interest, competing financial interests, or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Location of four cities (11; Wuhan, 12; Madrid, 13; Rome, 14; Paris) and Iranian megacities
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Bar chart comparison of AQI averages in Iranian cities before and after the COVID-19 pandemic (a). Stacked column chart contrasting Iran’s ambient air quality during the study period (b)
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Four-month average distribution of AQI before and after COVID-19 pandemic outbreak in Tehran and other global cities
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Comparison of AQI averages in Tehran and cities outside Iran. *: p < 0.0001, **: p = 0.008, ***: p = 0.77
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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