Association Between Air Pollution and COVID-19 Pandemic: An Investigation in Mumbai, India.

ABSTRACT: Spatial hot spots of COVID-19 infections and fatalities are observed at places exposed to high levels of air pollution across many countries. This study empirically investigates the relationship between exposure to air pollutants that is, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, and particulate matter (SO₂, NO₂, and PM₁₀) and COVID-19 infection at the smallest administrative level (ward) of Mumbai City in India. The paper explores two hypotheses: COVID-19 infection is associated with air pollution; the pollutants act as determinants of COVID-19 deaths. Kriging is used to assess the spatial variations of air quality using pollution data, while information on COVID-19 are retrieved from the database of Mumbai municipality. Annual average of PM₁₀ in Mumbai

SUBMITTER: Chattopadhyay A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8287720 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature