To be clear, the coronavirus pandemic is a tragedy and has affected human life very badly. The vast majority of countries are faced with serious problems such as overloaded hospitals, unemployment, economic disaster, depression and so on. Millions of people in many countries around the world have been on lockdown and government quarantined its citizens to slow down the spread of the virus.
But if we look on the other side of the coin, Coronavirus has positive effects on the environment.
One of the main impact of the coronavirus outbreak is a significant drop in the air pollution. A drop in air pollution was first observed by NASA in China’s Hubei province, where the coronavirus outbreak began in December 2019. Many countries around the world have implemented lockdown to slow down the spread of the virus. Slower economic activities such as closedown of schools, factories, industries also bring down emissions. A study by specialist has shown that carbon dioxide emissions have fallen by around 25 percent in China.
The environmental changes by the coronavirus were first visible from space. Then, as the disease and the lockdown spread, they could be sensed in the sky above our heads, the air in our lungs and even the ground beneath our feet.
After decades of relentlessly increasing pressure, the human footprint on the earth has suddenly lightened. Dirty brown pollution belts have been shrunk over cities and industrial centers in countries after lockdown. First China, then Italy, now the UK, Germany and dozens of other countries are experiencing temporary falls in carbon dioxide and nitrogen dioxide as much as 40%, greatly improving air quality and reducing the risks of asthma, heart attacks and lung disease.
We are in the hope that humanity could emerge from this horror and go through a healthier, cleaner world. GOVERNMENT should make political decisions and follow instructions in order to change short-term effects of coronavirus to long-term effects.
