A Comparative Study of Particulate Matter Between New Delhi, India and Riyadh, Saudi Arabia During the COVID-19 Lockdown Period

Abstract

Novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19), after being identified in late December 2019 in Wuhan city of China, spread very fast and has affected all the countries in the world. The impact of lockdowns on particulate matter during the lockdown period needs attention to explore the correlation between anthropogenic and natural emissions. The current study has demonstrated the changes in fine particulate matter PM2.5, PM10 and their effect on air quality during the lockdown. The air quality before the lockdown was low in New Delhi (India) and Riyadh (Saudi Arabia), among major cities worldwide. The air quality of India is influenced by dust and sand from the desert and surrounding areas. Thus, the current study becomes important to analyse changes in the air quality of the Indian sub-continent as impacted by dust storms from long distances. The result indicated a significant reduction of PM2.5 and PM10 from 93.24 to 37.89 μg/m3 and from 176.55 to 98.87 μg/m3 during the lockdown period as compared to pre lockdown period, respectively. The study shows that average concentrations of PM10 and PM2.5 have declined by -44% and -59% during the lockdown period in Delhi. The average value of median PM10 was calculated at 33.71 μg/m3 for Riyadh, which was lower than that value for New Delhi during the same period. The values of PM10 were different for pre and during the lockdown periods in Riyadh, indicating the considerable influence on air quality, especially the concentration of PM10, from both the natural (sand and dust storms) and the anthropogenic sources during the lockdown periods. However, relatively smaller gains in the improvement of air quality in Riyadh were correlated to the imposition of milder lockdown and the predominance of natural factors over the anthropogenic factors there. The Air Quality Index (AQI) data for Delhi showed the air quality to be ‘satisfactory’ and in the green category during the lockdown period. This study attempts to better understand the impact of particulate matter on the short- and long-term air quality in Delhi during the lockdown. This study has the scope of being scaled up nationwide, and this might be helpful in formulation air pollution reduction and sustainable management policies in the future.