Higher Covid-19 death toll in pollution hotspots points to environmental factor in pandemic, study finds
- Almost 80 per cent of Europe’s deaths were in regions with highest nitrogen dioxide concentration and poor airflow
- Satellite images helped track correlation between air quality and mortality
Air quality in northern Italy may play a factor in the nation’s high Covid-19 death rate, says a researcher who has used satellite images to draw correlations between pollution and the coronavirus toll. Photo: AP
Long-term exposure to could be an “important contributor” to the death of Covid-19 patients, according to a study out of Germany.
The study involved analysis of 4,443 deaths from Covid-19 – the disease caused by – in 66 administrative regions in Italy, Spain, France and Germany.
Yaron Ogen of Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg in Germany found 78 per cent of the coronavirus deaths took place in five regions in northern Italy and central Spain that recorded higher levels of nitrogen dioxide concentration and worse airflow conditions that trapped air pollution.
Nitrogen dioxide is a pollutant usually produced by cars, power plants and other industrial facilities and NO2 concentration is thought to exacerbate respiratory illnesses such as asthma.
Maps made available by the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute and European Space Agency show the average nitrogen dioxide concentrations over Europe in March and April 2019 (top) and from March 13 to April 13, 2020, during the coronavirus lockdown. Photo: AP
Among the five regions – four in northern Italy and one in the Madrid region of Spain – were Europe’s two main “hotspots” of nitrogen dioxide concentration, regions in which pollution was easily trapped by the surrounding mountains.
“This topographic structure, combined with atmospheric conditions of inversion, prevent the dispersion of air pollutants, which can cause a high incidence of respiratory problems and inflammation in the local population. This chronic exposure could be an important contributor to the high Covid-19 fatality rates observed in these regions,” Ogen said in the study published in the journal Science of the Total Environment.
“These results indicate that the long-term exposure to this pollutant may be one of the most important contributors to fatality caused by the Covid-19 virus in these regions and maybe across the whole world.”
The latest finding comes at a time when scientists are looking into the possible link between coronavirus cases and air pollution
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