India’s virus lockdown gives world’s most polluted capital clear skies, clean air.
NEW DELHI – Residents of New Delhi are experiencing the longest spell of clean air on record, according to government data, as a stringent lockdown to prevent the spread of novel coronavirus drastically cuts pollution in the world’s most polluted capital.
With all transport and construction suspended, good air has emerged as one of the few positive byproducts of the lockdown to stem the virus, that has infected more than 17,000 people and claimed over 500 lives in India.
A combination of industrial, agricultural and vehicle pollution blankets New Delhi and dozens of other Indian cities with a thick grey smog for several months of the year. Delhi was the world’s most polluted capital for the second year running in 2019, according to IQ AirVisual, a Swiss group that gathers air quality data globally.
But during the first 25 days of the lockdown that began on March 22, the concentration of poisonous PM2.5 particles in a cubic meter of air averaged at 44.18, according to a Reuters analysis of government data, indicating a rare “good” rating, the safest level on the scale.
h/t SH