Effects of tropospheric gas concentration and air temperature on
COVID-19 mortality
Abstract
We assessed the effect of temperature and tropospheric concentration of
Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) and Carbon monoxide (CO) before
and during the COVID 19 curfew/lockdown period (22 March-19 May 2020) on
mortality due to COVID-19 in Indian Punjab. Time series daily data of
TROPOspheric Monitoring Instrument on board Sentinel-5 Precursor was
used to study the spatio-temporal changes in NO2 and CO
from 15 March to 19 May 2020. Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite
onboard Suomi NPP satellite was used to detect the active fires (from 15
April to 19 May 2020) due to crop residue burning. The COVID-19
mortality was calculated from number of deaths relative to number of
cases preceding two weeks of deaths due to COVID-19 virus. The weekly
(15-21 March 2020) averaged tropospheric concentration of
NO2 and CO was higher before the first day of curfew (22
March 2020). The concentration of NO2 decreased during
the curfew period followed by increasing concentration from 11 April to
19 May 2020 and the concentration of CO increased from 19 April to 19
May 2020. There was a continuous increase in daily air temperature from
15 March to 19 May 2020. Mortality due to COVID-19 virus was
significantly negatively correlated with NO2, CO and
temperature. These results show that increasing temperature and
concentration of NO2 and CO decrease COVID-19 mortality,
but further studies should be conducted in different continents of the
world to verify the impact of NO2, CO and temperature on
COVID-19 mortality.