The positive impact of
COVID-19 lockdown on
air pollution and the ozone layer

With the COVID-19 pandemic, most countries have ordered their citizens to stay in their houses. A lockdown has been applied to prevent the transmission of the disease. How the current lockdown is good for our environment?. Here is a fact that the Earth's ozone layer has started to heal due to the current lockdown in many parts of the world due to COVID-19. Many studies state that with this rate of ozone restoration, it might be possible that the complete ozone hole gets healed shortly. Here are some examples which show how Nature is healing because of the lockdown:

Pollution levels decreasing

Clear blue skies and empty roads had become the rarest case in many countries around the world which is always jammed with people. With the lockdown in place and less number of people using cars, the pollution levels show a drastic fall. Recently The World Health Organization (WHO)

assess that about 3 million people die each year from diseases caused by air pollution and that more than 80% of people living in urban areas are exposed to air quality levels. Measurements from the European Space Agency's Sentinel-5P satellite showed that through January and February 2020, levels of nitrogen dioxide over cities in Asia and Europe were lower than the same period in 2019 by 40%. After the lockdown was announced, NO₂ pollution in some cities fell by as much as 60% compared to the same period in 2019.

Ozone layer healing

The sudden drop in pollution levels across the globe due to COVID-19 has led to a positive effect on the ozone layer. With fewer vehicles on roads and people altering their activities. The ozone layer has finally got some breathing space. A scientific paper published in Nature heralds a rare success in the reflection of environmental damage and shows that the unity of global action can make a difference. The study also mentioned that the full healing of the ozone layer might be possible in the coming time.

In my sight of view, I agree with this news about the positive effect of COVID lockdown that is imposed in all countries around the world. This method is used to avoid the spread of the virus in between people and communities; also, it has many positive effects on the weather, climate, air pollution and ozone layer.

The world is healing because there is a significant decrease in the production of nitrogen dioxide, carbon dioxide and many other toxic gases that are produced from public transport and factories. Most of the shops, malls, restaurants, factories and construction work are locked, so there are less crowded places and fewer traffic jams. The production of the industries now is less, which causes less pollution and damage to the environment. There is a limitation in a lot of human activities that they used to do as there daily routines such as using many different kinds of transportations like vehicles, motors, buses and trains as well as all the airports around the world were halted this means there are no flights or travelling between the countries and cites by plane. All of these factors are considered as a significant source for increasing air pollution they produce No2, co2 in high levels which then affect the climate and the purity of the weather. These toxic gases may also cause respiratory issues and infections to the human such as asthma and causes worse symptoms to the patients who are suffering from lung or heart conditions. The ozone layer is used as a protective layer or covers to the atmosphere it's reducing the risk of ultraviolet radiation to the Earth that causes issues to the human health and effects on other organisms. Damaging the ozone layer is done by the overproduction of toxic gases that will produce or make a hole in this layer.

Last but not least, we all around the globe nowadays; help in decreasing air pollution, which is one of the benefits of this pandemic virus COVID-19.