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• Say No To Crackers

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Say No To Crackers
Air pollution has now been shown to have a serious impact on Covid-
19 infection. People exposed to higher levels of air pollutants are
found to be at a higher risk of Covid-19 infection and / or death.
These are the findings of a study published in September 2020 and
conducted by the Medical Research Council of the UK at their
Toxicology unit at Cambridge in England. This study mainly
monitored Nitrous Oxide (NO) and Nitrous Dioxide (NO2)
concentrations, and concluded that death in Covid-19 is associated
with increased levels of both NO and NO2 levels in England,
explained Dr Shaikh.
He continued, "Another study published on October 27, 2020, in the journal
"Cardiovascular Research" and published by authors from the Max Planck
Institute in Germany, concluded that long term exposure to air pollution may
be linked to 15 percent of Covid-19 deaths globally. However, this percentage
varies from 27 percent of deaths in East Asia to 19 percent in Europe and 17
percent in North America. The researchers also noted that air pollution affects
the heart, lungs and blood vessels. Increase in SPM (suspended particulate
matter), particularly has been found to increase the activity of a receptor on
the lung cell surface, which is known to be involved in Covid-19 infection.
Indeed, Covid-19 is a respiratory virus and is documented to cause long term
pulmonary fibrosis, as also aggravation of respiratory conditions such as
asthma, bronchitis and pneumonia.
Smoke or fine particulate matter in the air from crackers will increase
transmission of COVID-19 this Diwali ! said Dr Subhash Hira, Professor of
Global Health at the University of Washington-Seattle, USA and former
health specialist of the World Bank HQ and WHO, and currently health
advisor to several UN, Indian and African health agencies, "Scientists were
worried with the ongoing celebration season in India that was bringing large
crowds of people to form congregations. There is new evidence emerging
that at least 45% of COVID-19 infected persons remain asymptomatic and
are likely to form a disproportionately large part of these congregations;
thus increasing chances of high transmission to un-infected persons. The
immediate result of such crowding is seen in spurt of new cases on
Wednesday, 27.10.2020 to 1,354 in Mumbai (up from 800-plus cases each
day last week) and 5,673 (up from 4,000-plus cases each day last week) in
New Delhi. These cities have observed that congregations are characterized
by the lack of universal use of masks, breakdown of physical distancing, and
poor hand sanitation and leading to first whammy; increased COVID-19
transmission."
Presentation By:
Tejaswi Ummadi
9th C