Pandemic COVID-19 and environmental pollution (literature review)

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to review and analyze the literature on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the environment and, conversely, on the environmental impact on the spread of SARS-CoV-2. The literature search was carried out using the MedLine, PubMed and eLIBRARY databases. Thanks to measures to combat the COVID-19 pandemic, the world experienced a sharp decline in economic activity, which in turn led to improvements in air and water quality and contributed to the global reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, but this improvement was short-lived. Quarantine measures not only protect the population from COVID-19, but also positively affect the environmental quality. At the same time, the amount of plastic medical waste, such as used public and personal protective equipment against COVID-19, increased, and as a result, the problem of their disposal arose. This has led to the contamination of the water and land physical spaces and created the population contamination threat. Using the concentration of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from urban wastewater and subsequent counting of viral RNAs by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction, an early determination of COVID-19 was carried out by modelling in specific populations. The presence of SARS-CoV-2 RNA in wastewater is a potential public health risk. High levels of environmental pollution (long-term exposure to derivatives of fossil fuel combustion), meteorological parameters (ionizing and UV radiation), and cigarette smoke, are considered to be additional factors increasing the spread and mortality of COVID-19. The SARS-CoV-2 viability depends on aquatic and terrestrial environmental parameters.