The global pandemic ‘Coronavirus’ has come with many problems for people, their health and their businesses, of course. But the only positive impact that it has brought is – lower levels of air pollution. Yes, since many private firms have asked employees to work from home, schools and colleges have suspended classes, and malls and pubs are also closed. This partial lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19 has lowered the pollution in Delhi.
Delhi NCR saw some ‘moderate’ air quality with the AQI(Air Quality Index) at 129 and it is expected to improve.
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‘The maximum temperature during the day is likely to hover around 29 degrees Celsius,’ the India Meteorological Department was reported as saying. The better AQI is no doubt due to the lack of vehicles on the roads because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Most of the places in Delhi are shut till March 31. But as a result of the restrictions, people are polluting less and particularly in Delhi, smog made the winter unbearable last year. Now, at least this is a good sign.
Pure Air In Some Parts
Pusa Road and Lodhi Road were the two areas with the pure air in Delhi on Wednesday morning. The two areas registered the PM 2.5 count of 90 and 86 respectively in the ‘satisfactory‘ category.
Moderate Air In Some Parts
While other areas in Delhi recorded the air quality in the ‘moderate‘ category like Dheerpur Road, Delhi University and Mathura Road which registered an AQI of 149, 118, 113 respectively.
Similarly, IIT-Delhi and Indira Gandhi International Airport (Terminal 3) recorded PM 2.5 count of 115, 128 respectively again in the ‘moderate‘ category.
Satisfactory Air In NCR Too
The NCR too has enjoyed clean air after heavy rains. On Wednesday, Noida and Gurugram registered an AQI of 95 and 100 respectively in the ‘satisfactory‘ category.
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According to SAFAR (System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting and Research), AQI between the range of 51 and 100 is considered as ‘satisfactory’ or ‘very good‘, 101-200 is ‘moderate‘, 201-300 falls under the category of ‘poor‘. While 300-400 is considered as ‘very poor‘, levels between 401-500 fall under the ‘hazardous‘ category. Delhiites have survived hazardous and very poor category many times in the recent past when pollution hit the city too hard.
SAFAR Prediction
‘The SAFAR model suggests AQI likely to be in the ‘moderate’ category for 19th March. Isolated rainfall and a slight improvement in AQI is expecting on 20th March,’ SAFAR forecast was reported as saying. Let’s hope we can keep the pollution under control even after we all step out in the city again. After all, this is the air we breathe and polluting it harms us in the end.