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January 27,2022

Anna Murray 

Air improved and more than 800 lives have been saved at COVID lockdowns at the first phase in 2020, according to the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service (CAMS).

Experts from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) conducted a research based on numbers of the first phase lockdown of COVID-19. They figured out that stricter preventions of COVID-19 had the great impact to decrease the level of nitrogen dioxide (NO2). Cities in Spain, France, and Italy have experienced the great reduction in NO2 of between 50% and 60% at the first phase of lockdowns. The study noted that the preventive measures including closing workplace and schools led to less cars. Cars mainly generated NO2 and this is the major reason to pollute air. International travel bans did not contribute a lot to improving air pollutions in local areas. 

Antonio Gasparrini, a professor of biostatistics and epidemiology at LSHTM and senior author of the study, mentioned that this pandemic caused an extreme cost in medical services. However, this research can provide concrete suggestions to design a stricter policy to improve air pollutions. This was also a natural experiment to know how air can be improved by stricter policies to maintain public health.  

Other studies showed restrictions and lockdowns had a great impact on greenhouse gas emissions at the first phase of lockdowns in 2020. Based on the report of U.N., after governments lifted restrictions, carbon emissions increased quickly.