Changes in air quality during COVID-19 'lockdown' in the United Kingdom.

ABSTRACT: The UK implemented a lockdown in Spring (2020) to curtail the person-to-person transmission of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Measures restricted movements to one outing per day for exercise and shopping, otherwise most people were restricted to their dwelling except for key workers (e.g. medical, supermarkets, and transport). In this study, we quantified changes to air quality across the United Kingdom from 30/03/2020 to 03/05/2020 (weeks 14-18), the period of most stringent travel restrictions. Daily pollutant measurements of NO₂, O₃ and PM_2.5 from the national network of monitoring sites during this period were compared with measurements over the same period during 2017-19. Comparisons were also made with predicted concentrations for the 2020 period from business

SUBMITTER: Jephcote C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7677678 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Mar

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature