Ambient air pollution and COVID-19 in Delhi, India: a time-series evidence

ABSTRACT

This study aimed to explore the short-term health effects of ambient air pollutants $P{M}_{2.5}$, $P{M}_{10}$, $S{O}_2$, $N{O}_2$, $O_3$, and $CO$ on COVID-19 daily new cases and COVID-19 daily new deaths. A time-series design used in this study. Data were obtained from 1 April 2020 to 31 December 2020 in the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, India. The generalized additive models (GAMs) were applied to explore the associations of six air pollutants with COVID-19 daily new cases and COVID-19 daily new deaths. The GAMs revealed statistically significant associations of ambient air pollutants with COVID-19 daily new cases and COVID-19 daily new deaths. These findings suggest that governments need to give greater considerations to regions with higher concentrations of $P{M}_{2.5}$, $P{M}_{10}$, $S{O}_2$, $N{O}_2$, $O_3$, and $CO$, since these areas may experience a more serious COVID-19 pandemic or, in general, any respiratory disease.

KEYWORDS:

• COVID-19
• air pollution
• population mobility
• generalized additive model
• India

Supplementary material

Supplemental data for this article can be accessed here.