China's air pollution has reached the pre-lockdown level for the first time since the coronavirus-related restrictions were lifted, the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said on Monday
MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 18th May, 2020) China's air pollution has reached the pre-lockdown level for the first time since the coronavirus-related restrictions were lifted, the Finland-based Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA) said on Monday.
"Levels of health-harming air pollutants in China have exceeded concentrations at the same time last year in the past 30 days, for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 crisis. This includes PM2.5 [particulates], NO2 [nitrogen dioxide], SO2 [sulfur dioxide] and ozone. Air pollutant levels plummeted during the national lockdown in February, bottomed out in early March and have now overshot their pre-crisis levels," the CREA said in a report.
The reversed trend is more likely driven by industrial emissions, the researchers said, adding that the pollution levels in Beijing and Shanghai were still below what was recorded during the same time in 2019.
According to the CREA, pollution is higher in areas where coal-burning power plants are located, and the ozone level in China has reached the record-level of 2018.
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic began in China in late December, when the first coronavirus cases were registered in the city of Wuhan in the Hubei Province. Thanks to the strict quarantine regime, China managed to limit the spread by March and has started to ease its lockdown restrictions across the country. The lockdown in Hubei, the epicenter of the outbreak, was lifted in early April.
