Comparison of the Air Quality within the Northern Region of India both During and After the Lockdown

Abstract

The World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID-19 a global pandemic due to the novel infectious coronavirus disease found in late 2019. Some positive impacts have been seen on the natural environment during the outbreak of COVID-19. In this study, we have tried to analyse the impact of lockdown on air quality at four major northern states of India (Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, and Haryana) located in the National Capital Region (NCR). This study compared the variation in air pollutants during the first lockdown phase (25th March to 15th April) 2020 and after the lockdown phase (25th March to 15th April) 2022, including PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and SO2. The average concentration of PM10, PM2.5, NO2, and SO2 reduced by 70.43%, 64.7%, 66.37%, and 36.89% over National Capital Region (NCR) during the lockdown phase. A good pollution control plan can lead to significant improvements in air quality in the future, which should provide confidence to policymakers involved in developing air quality policies.