MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 13th July, 2020) A group of researchers from the UK-based University of Birmingham has found correlation between the poor quality of air and an increase in the number of coronavirus cases, related hospital admissions and death, according to a study released on Monday.
The study is due for publication in the Environmental and Resource Economics peer-reviewed academic journal. Researchers conducted an econometric analysis of the relationship between pollution concentrations and COVID-19 based on data from 355 relatively small municipalities in the Netherlands.
"Our results provide compelling evidence of a statistically significant positive relationship between air pollution and Covid-19 cases, hospital admissions and deaths," researchers said in the abstract to the study.
More specifically, they found that an increase in the concentration of pollutant fine particle matter, known as PM2.5 due to their size being smaller than 2.5 micrometers, by 1 microgram per cubic meter was associated with 9.4 more COVID-19 cases, three more hospital admission and 2.3 more deaths.
Counterintuitively, the hotbeds of the infection in the Netherlands were in relatively rural areas, where people live farther from each other than in big cities. The study worked through a variety of alternative factors, such as two large-scale public gatherings for carnivals, smoking, average income, level of education and obesity, in establishing the correlation between air pollution in such areas and the COVID-19 dynamic.
The authors stressed, however, that before such factors as age and health conditions are analyzed, establishing a causal link between air quality and COVID-19 can not be conclusive.
