Air pollutant levels during the large-scale social restriction period and its association with case fatality rate of covid-19

Abstract

The COVID-19 outbreak has caused millions of deaths in all over the world since it was declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) as a pandemic in March 2020. To stop the deadly spread of the virus, many countries, including Indonesia, have applied the ‘Large-scale Social Restriction’ (LSSR) policy. Numerous studies have reported positive impacts of air quality due to this policy. However, in Indonesia, data on the impacts of LSSR on air quality are still sparse. Therefore, this study aims to analyze changes in air quality at before and during the LSSR periods in the South Sumatera Province, Indonesia using the satellite-based observations of particulate matter (PM10), sulfur dioxide (SO2), nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and carbon monoxide (CO). The results showed that the concentrations of the measured pollutants markedly declined during the LSSR period from the highest was SO2 (98.90%) and followed by NO2 (34.79%), CO (12.70%) and PM10 (11.54%), respectively. The emissions from biomass burning activities were expected as a major source of air pollutant during the LSSR. Furthermore, we found a positive association between PM10 and the case fatality rate of COVID-19 in the study area (r = 0.514, p < 0.05). Finally, this study concluded that the implementation of LSSR could reduce air pollutants concentration in the study area while a higher PM10 exposure could increase the risk of death from COVID-19. The output of the study can be used to arrange air quality management practice and COVID-19 transmission control in Indonesia.