Indirect effects of Covid -19 on the environment

Name: Md Shoriful Islam

SID: 20575211

Summery:
Covid -19 is one of the most dangerous pandemics in the 20 th century which was originated from
Wuhan city of china. It has taken away almost 5 million people lives and affected more than 100
millions of people in the world. People of all over the world are in panic situation about this
deadly virus. This virus has interrupted the daily activities of human beings. It has confined
human beings in their house and people must keep social distances and wearing musk in public
place. As a result, an indirect significant effect on different aspect has seen in this world
especially on the environment. But the most interesting thing is that covid 19 has created both
positive and negative impact on environment. As government of different countries have made
mandatory rules to stay at home, the use of vehicle in the road has decreased and the industrial
activities of different production have been shut down to prevent covid 19 spreading among the
workers. For this reason, the concentration of NO2 emission has sharply reduced. Due to
maintain of social distances, the noise level and Air pollution in the air have reduced greatly.
Most of the beaches are closed and it becomes cleaned from the waste of visitors during
pandemic period. The use of fossil fuel in the world has lessen much due to the travel restriction
on the most infected country which lead to the less amount of greenhouse gas emission in the
atmosphere. The coal and oil consumption have also reduced because of low energy demand at
the lockdown period. The amount of waste disposal into the water is also abated due to the
inactivity of industrial activities. As a result, water quality of the river and ocean have improved.
It also has created positive effect on the marine environment and animals. In a nutshell,
environment has restored its health due to reduction of different pollution from the human
activities and it has been possible only for covid -19. On the other hand, the indirect negative
effects on the environment due to covid -19 are not least. The amount of medical and household
waste has increased compared to the pre-Covid period. For preventing virus transmission,
frequent use and haphazard disposal of disinfectant, mask, gloves, and untreated waste have also
endangered the environment. The waste disposal system has totally disrupted, as a result solid
waste is stored in the open place and dumping site more than its capacity and pollute the water,
air, and soil. The use disinfectant has increased among the people which kill some non-targeted
beneficial species of bacteria that can imbalance the ecosystem.

Purpose of the review:

The main purpose of this review is to study on both positive and negative indirect impact on the
environment due to covid -19. In this review, the key factors which are responsible for this
change and how these make change have been discussed. Several authors have given their
opinion according to their observation with statistical data of different cities and compared with
the previous and present condition of the parameters. Finally, this review will give better
understand how covid -19 has created impact on the environment indirectly.

Discussion:
Covid -19 has outbroken globally, and it has caused not only severe health problem but also
affected the world economy and environment in various ways. As of 30 august 2021, almost 4.5
million people have died, and 216 million people have been affected worldwide. (WHO, 2021).
Most of the county’s government have given priorities on their public health and tried hard to
prevent the spreading the covid -19 virus. They have imposed different restriction on public
movement, vehicles, and industrial activities. The consequence of this lockdown has created
both positive and negative impact on the environment indirectly. The positive factors are
pollution and noise level which have decreased significantly. While the socio-economic damage
in the world is increasing during the covid-19, the environmental pollution has decreased
significantly. (Chakraborty & Maity et al., 2020). The reasons behind the reduction of
environmental pollution are low greenhouse gas, nitrogen di-oxide, and black carbon emission,
along with low waste disposal in the water.(Shakil et al., 2020). (Tobías et al., 2020) reported
that during the lockdown period the air pollution level decreased about 50% and nitrogen di-
oxide and black carbon emission rate dropped 45-51% at Barcelona, Spain. He also found that 1
million ton less amount carbon has emitted during this year compared to the previous year in
china. Due to the halt of worldwide industrial activates and vehicle operation, Air pollutant such
as N O 2 and carbon dioxide gas emission have reduced in the industrialized country. The
particulate matter in Malaysia dropped about 58.4% during the lockdown period. (Abdullah et
al ., 2020). European governments ordered to their citizen to stay at their home to prevent
transmission and almost halted industrial and other regular activities. As a result greenhouse gas
and nitrogen di-oxide emission in Europe especially at Germany, Italy , France and Spain have
sharply decreased (Zambrano-Monserrate et al., 2020). Another important common measure
imposed by most of the country’s government is maintaining social distances which has caused
many beaches empty and get cleaned up. The amount of waste generated from the tourists from
different countries has reduced greatly. As a result, the water quality of the sea and river has
improved. Saadat et al ., 2020 reported that the water quality of canals in Venice, Italy became
more transparent than pre-lockdown period. Likewise, the surface water quality in the Vemband
Lake in India improved significantly and the suspended particulate matter in the water reduced
by 15.9%. The noise level in the big cities has sharply decreased due to the travel restriction on
the most covid-19 infected countries and quarantine policies also hinder the movement of people
by using public transportation.

On the other hand, the negative indirect impact on the environment due to covid -19 is not least.
The production of domestic and medical waste has increased during the covid -19 time because
of huge number of people infection every day. Zambrano-Monserrate et al.,2020 showed that
hospitals in the Wuhan city have produced 250 metric ton waste per day but in the pre-covid
period it was 50 metric ton per day. He also mentioned that the increase of household waste was
due to the dependency on online shopping and home delivery. The other reason can be the
tendency of not using recycled material because Covid -19 can transmit one person to other
through it. The consequences of these waste can be harmful for the environment and potentially
transmit diseases to others unless it is managed properly. Waste recycling system in some cities
of USA was totally stopped during the pandemic because the authority was concerned that
people could be affected through the recycling center. In European counties, waste recycling
operation has been restricted. For instance, the infected people waste has been prohibited for
sorting in Italy. The chance of using disposable bag has been sized by the industry even though
single time use plastic can still harbor viruses and bacteria. (Bir et al., 2020). Finally, it is
concluded that the covid 19 has created both positive and negative impact on environment.
Pollution from the industrial activities has reduced but disruption of solid waste management has
polluted the environment. It can be predicted that greenhouse gas emission will be increased
abruptly after the covid -19 period. Because industries will want to recover their loss due to shut
down. As people are in their house for a long period, The tourists spot will be outnumbered after
the withdrawn of lockdown. So necessary step should be taken to control the post lockdown
period situation.

Reference:
Abdullah, S., Mansor, A. A., Napi, N. N. L. M., Mansor, W. N. W., Ahmed, A. N., Ismail, M., &
Ramly, Z. T. A. (2020). Air quality status during 2020 Malaysia Movement Control
Order (MCO) due to 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) pandemic. Science of The
Total Environment, 729, 139022. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139022

Bir, B., 2020. https://www.aa.com.tr/en/health/single-use-items-not-safest-option-amidcovid-

19/1787067 Accessed date: 5 April 2020

Chakraborty, I., & Maity, P. (2020). COVID-19 outbreak: Migration, effects on society, global
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Shakil, M. H., Munim, Z. H., Tasnia, M., & Sarowar, S. (2020). COVID-19 and the
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Saadat, S., Rawtani, D., & Hussain, C. M. (2020). Environmental perspective of COVID-19.
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Tobías, A. (2020). Evaluation of the lockdowns for the SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in Italy and
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Who,2021 https://covid19.who.int/

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