Good evening everyone. I would like to speak on the indirect impact of COVID 19 on Global environment.

Coronaviruses are a family of viruses that can causes illness ranging from common cold to Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome and Middle East Respiratory syndrome. It affects human beings through zoonotic transmission.

The first case of novel Coronavirus 2019 was reported to World Health Organization's Country Office in Wuhan, China
on December 31st, 2019 with symptoms of unexplained low respiratory infections. This was classified as “pneumonia of
unknown etiology” as the cause of infection was not known.

On January 12, 2020, WHO found that Corona virus was the reason of this infection in Wuhan and later on 11th February,
WHO Director-General announced this novel CoV as ‘COVID-19’ which is an acronym of ‘Corona virus disease 2019’.

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( VIDEO ) – In December 2019, China notified the World Health Organization of several cases of human respiratory
illness, the disease later named as COVID 19. The virus causing this diseases is known as Severe Acute Respiratory
Syndrome Coronavirus 2

The Coronavirus is spherical in shape and it’s genetic material is encapsulated by different types of proteins. Some of the
key structural ones are Spike (S) protein, the most prominent feature of Coronavirus from where they get there name, then
(M) Membrane Protein and then the so called envelope protein.

Covid-19 was declared pandemic disease by Director General-WHO on 11th March.

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As of 19 September, 2020, more than 30.3 million cases have been reported across 188 countries and territories with more
than 950,000 deaths and more than 20.6 million people have recovered.

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( VIDEO ) – The disease spreads through small droplets that are expelled from the nose or mouth when a person with
coronavirus coughs or exhale. Therefore standing close to someone can put you at risk. These droplets can land on your
hand and can be transmitted through something as simple as a handshake if afterwards you touch your eyes, nose or
mouth the so called T zone. The virus is known to survive on different types of surfaces, so touching these contaminated
surfaces and then touching the T zone can put you at risk.

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In India the first confirmed positive case was reported on 30th January in a student from Thrissur district of Kerala who
had returned home for a vacation from Wuhan University in China followed by two other cases on February 2 and 3
again in Kerala having the same history.

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As on 24th September, Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MOHFW) reported 966,382 (nine hundred sixty six
thousand three hundred and eighty two) active cases and 91,149 (ninety one thousand one hundred and forty nine)
deaths with recovering cases 4,674,987 (Four million six hundred seventy four thousand nine hundred and eighty
seven)

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(Fig 1) This figure shows the spread of COVID-19 in India from January 30, 2020 to April 14, 2020. It is evident from the
figure that spread of corona virus became rapid after 15 March and started taking a horrible shape in entire country.
Fig. 1
Covid 19 in India from Jan 30, 2020 to April 14, 2020 (MOHFW-GOI, 2020).

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Presently India is in the top six affected countries, first being USA, then India, Brazil, Russia, Colombia and Peru.

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The only way to control the spread of this virus at this moment is suggested to be “social distancing”, which is being
practiced by many countries at this crisis time and has led to reduction GHG emissions in air at global level.

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During past two decades, India has witnessed an expeditious industrial growth which has certainly improved the standard
of living of its people and it is also evident from the rising vehicular fleet on roads. But we have paid a heavy cost for this
development in terms of poisoning the air we breathe.

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Observing the increasing rate of corona cases in India, honourable prime minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi on March
24, 2020 declared a complete lockdown of 21 days for entire country during his live address to the nation, which was
further extended for 19 days on April 14 in II phase followed by 14 days in III phase and more 14 days in Phase IV.
Various restrictions and subsequent lockdown, anthropogenic activities like industrial projects, vehicular movement,
construction projects, tourism other common transportation activities witnessed a ‘never before’ stagnant phase. In India,
apart from taking necessary administrative measures such as restriction on social gathering events, travel restrictions,
containment of corona suspects and their treatment, Government of India has directed the citizens to maintain adequate
social distancing and to use personal protective equipment like masks.

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As many of the countries are observing self-quarantine and social distancing, it has given the nature a “healing time” with
reduced human interference in natural environment.

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Major impact of lockdown due to COVID-19 can be observed on air quality, which is being experienced by everyone and
recorded in various official reports. Smog has given way to blue skies in cities like Delhi, marine life is seeing increased
activity, pollution levels have dropped in almost all the metro cities and animals as well as birds are moving around on
their own accord. Although the pandemic situation is out of control for human beings but the positive side of it has made
us to reconsider our lives and reorganize it in a way that has less impact on our planet. The situation today is a “reset” for
nature and mankind, giving us a prospect to observe and analyse in and around.

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Articles and reports in dailies and other electronic media reveal the improvement in the quality of number of rivers of
India including Ganga, Cauvery, Sutlej and Yamuna etc. The primary cause is lack of industrial effluents entering the
rivers due to lockdown situation under this pandemic situation.

It is reported that in routine days the total effluent dumped in Ganga is around 6500–6700 MLD and out of which 700
MLD (approximately 10%) come from industries. 30% of total BOD is due to industries situated along the holy river
which is 130–150 tons per day. The organic load can be diluted in the river but the industrial pollution destroys the self-
cleansing property of water. Researchers believe that the self-cleansing property of river Ganga has improved which has
enhanced the water quality by 40–50% during this lockdown ). Scientists have claimed that water quality has remarkably
improved at Haridwar Ghats which is up to drinking standards (m). The Ghats are also closed for people taking holy bath
in the water or dumping flowers and other waste in it has stopped. This has resulted in water looking visibly cleaner with
aquatic life moving around.

Let’s look at a video which shows how nature has improved during this pandemic.

Due to the Coronavirus outbreak and subsequent lockdown, crystal clear water can be seen in Venice. With Italy under
lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic the crowd of tourists that swarm the canals are gone and the pollution
from motorboats have vastly reduced. For the few locals, who leave their homes, it is an unusual sight. It is just one of the
possibly beneficial effects of the pandemic on environment. In cities across the world, the streets have emptied of people
and vehicles, factories have shut down and flights have been grounded. In China, satellite images have shown a significant
drop in nitrogen dioxide pollution after Wuhan and surrounding Hubei Province went into lockdown. Scientists in Europe
have seen similar effects in Northern Italy. While in New York, the Colombia University reported a drop in CO2
emissions as traffic level fell

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As adversity always introduces man to himself, this situation has provided an opportunity to reflect on things and give a
better understanding of who we are, what we should do and how would we do. The technologies adopted have certainly
changed our mode of working and made us aware of how resilient and capable we are to handle such extreme situations.
We are learning to be grateful to life and simple things they we usually ignore in routines. The importance of nature,
mother earth and the natural resources have clearly been understood by humans in this pandemic situation. The world will
have to face many long term and short terms effects of Covid-19. The patients who had developed Acute Respiratory
Distress Syndrome (ARDS) being Corona positive, will be at greater risk of long term health issues related to major
organs like heart, lungs etc. People who have recovered from this disease may have post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD),
depression and anxiety. Not only health but this pandemic situation will result in to a demand and supply-side crises
which would affect entire business ecosystems and consumer behaviour. Every sector will try to develop buffers to deal
with future catastrophic situations.

It is a time for policy makers and government to plan strategies to come to normal life in post-Covid era. It is clear that a
the lockdown has done such a miraculous change in environmental condition which was beyond thinking for us just
couple of months back. This is also true that lockdown conditions can not be imposed forever, industries cannot be shut
down for infinite time or vehicular movement cannot be restricted for much longer time but the patterns can be changed
and a more responsible behaviour can be adopted. It is a known fact that anthropogenic activities are the major cause
behind degraded environmental condition and disturbed ecology, but in last two months, it has become evident that still it
can be restored significantly if sufficient mitigative measure and strategic government policies are planned before
removing all the restrictions.

THANK YOU