More than 800 deaths may have been avoided due to air quality improvements during the first lockdown phase in Europe

According to new estimates published in Scientific Reports, strict COVID-19 lockdown policies in European cities reduced levels of air pollution and the number of associated deaths.

The research was funded by the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and was led by a team of statistical health and earth observation satellite modellers.

The study compared government policies from 47 European cities from February to July 2020 and estimated the changes in pollution levels and deaths avoided during the first wave of COVID-19.

Government measures such as school and workplace closing, cancelling public events, and stay-at- home requirements had the strongest effect on reducing NO 2 levels. The reduction in road transport and local mobility contributes to NO 2 air pollution. Spanish, French and Italian cities had the largest decreases in NO 2.

Fine particulate matter PM 2.5 and PM 10 were reduced more modestly since they are also produced by natural sources, and other emission sources like residential activities, that were slightly increased during lockdown.

The first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic created immense health and social costs, however, it has offered unique conditions to investigate potential effects of strict policies. This natural experiment has given us a glimpse of how air quality can be improved by drastic public health measures that would be difficult to implement in normal times. The problem of pollution in our cities can be tackled with the help of information.

The research used an ensemble of regional air quality models. The team was able to compare the concentrations of the main air pollutants with two emissions scenarios, one corresponding to business-as-usual conditions and the other corresponding to a detailed estimate of emissions resulting from the actual governmental measures taken during the first lockdown.

There were excess deaths avoided due to the exposure change compared to the business-as-usual difference.

More than 800 deaths were avoided with improved air quality because of government measures to limit the spread of the SARS-Cov-2 virus. The cities with the highest number of avoided deaths were Paris, London, Barcelona, and Milan.

After the strong decline in March and April 2020, air pollution levels in all cities increased, but remained below business-as-usual scenario estimates. The local pollution levels were not affected by the restrictions on internal and international travel.

Rochelle Schneider, the first author of the study, said that they were able to estimate the health benefits from specific government measures. This study can help drive the message that we need to improve urban air quality for human health and the environment.

Government policies decided during the spring and early summer of 2020 gave us a unique opportunity to study a scenario with lower air pollution levels. The paper conveyed strong messages on the potential of replicable,Scalable, and Collaborative research conducted with expertise and knowledge from public health and tropical medicine universities.

The research benefits from a unique dataset provided by CAMS, which allows to compare as realistic and accurately as possible European air quality as it was experienced as a result of the COVID-19. This overcomes the limitations of other studies, which compared different periods. The CAMS multi-model ensemble that has been used to generate this dataset has capabilities that are not comparable in the world.

The findings are extremely significant as they consolidate the quantitative evidence that the COVID-related government measures had a direct effect on air pollution levels across Europe. This study could help shape future policy as the public health benefits of reducing pollution in our cities and the effectiveness of certain measures are clear to see.

The limitations of the study include the use of country's overall response rather than city specific interventions.

The European Commission has funding for the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which is implemented by the Copernicus Atmosphere Monitoring Service.

More information: Differential Impact of Government Lockdown Policies on Reducing Air Pollution Levels and Related Mortality in Europe, Scientific Reports (2022). www.nature.com/articles/s41598-021-04277-6 Journal information: Scientific Reports Citation: More than 800 deaths may have been avoided due to air quality improvements during the first lockdown phase in Europe (2022, January 26) retrieved 26 January 2022 from https://phys.org/news/2022-01-deaths-due-air-quality-lockdown.html This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.