- Air pollution could increase risk of respiratory diseases like Covid-19
Although Sri Lanka experienced a similar incident at around the same time in 2019, the levels were below the reading of 150 on the Air Quality Index (AQI) metre. This time, it had shot over 190, which is categorised as unhealthy.
To understand the possible reasons behind the drop in air quality, The Sunday Morning contacted NBRO Air Quality Studies Unit Co-ordinator and Senior Scientist H.D.S. Premasiri, who explained the situation, stating: “Ideally, the pollutants or the particulate matter that should be present in the atmosphere should be a lot less these days since there is very less vehicular movement, and factories too are running at half their capacity due to Covid-19 health guidelines. However, the change in wind direction seems to be pushing polluted atmospheric air from the Indian subcontinent these days, which brought in the smog and a haze situation mid-week.” 
Elaborating on the phenomenon, Premasiri noted that when the NBRO observed the real-time air quality map, it had confirmed that the air quality above the Indian subcontinent was found to be at unhealthy levels and the change in wind direction meant that all pollutants were blown over Sri Lanka during the past few days.
In 2019, Sri Lanka ranked 25th out of the 98 countries where air quality is being monitored across the world, reflecting an average reading of 25.20 as per the US AQI.
According to the NBRO, the pollution conditions are expected to fluctuate and if the public is exposed to the low-quality air that is circulating, they would experience some breathing difficulties, specifically sensitive groups (i.e., children, the elderly, pregnant women, and people with respiratory illnesses), but not others.
The presence of such pollution conditions can be observed due to natural changes such as the invisibility of buildings and other places far away from the horizon, the appearance of smoke in the surrounding atmosphere, and the presence of a slightly darker sky.
In Sri Lanka, the ambient air quality is regulated under the National Environmental Act and according to the schedule published under Extraordinary Gazette No. 1562/22 of 15 August 2008, the maximum permissible level for particulate matter in aerodynamic diameter is less than 2.5 µm in size. Pollutant particulate matter (PM2.5) for a 24-hour time period was 50 micrograms per cubic metre (µg/m3) of air and annually should stand at 25 µg/m3 of air.
Covid-19 symptoms aggravated
In a recent interview for the World Health Organisation (WHO), its Department of Public Health, Environment, and Social Determinants of Health Director Dr. Maria Neira highlighted how air pollution could aggravate symptoms of Covid-19 in terms of the present community health.
“About seven million premature deaths are caused every year due to exposure to air pollution. If you realise that exposure to air pollution will increase the risk of diseases of the respiratory system – and that Covid-19 is mainly a disease of the respiratory system – you will realise that we are increasing the susceptibility and vulnerability of people who are exposed to air pollution. Therefore, we need to make sure that this double burden is tackled in a very important way, addressing the causes of air pollution as well.”
Explaining further, Dr. Neira noted that when the air is polluted, people inadvertently breathe bad-quality air. Through the lungs, it will cause major damage, already increasing the risk of chronic respiratory diseases such as lung cancer, obstructive chronic pulmonary diseases, asthma, pneumonia, and others. The very small particles can then reach the bloodstream, affecting the cardiovascular system and other organs.
“In the case of the patients with Covid-19, those who will be more at a severe risk of developing illness are those with underlying conditions like high blood pressure, heart diseases, or respiratory diseases. We see that air pollution might exacerbate those diseases and make the patients and population more vulnerable to the disease, and exacerbate the severity of developing a more serious illness,” she elaborated.
Dr. Neira then pointed out that the precautions that are presently taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 can greatly help reduce the development of respiratory illnesses caused by polluted air.
In terms of Covid-19, the WHO has repeated many times what measures need to be taken, from washing your hands, maintaining good hygiene, and ensuring that you respect the physical distance that it is recommending, to avoiding very crowded places in which you may have very close contact with other people, ensuring natural ventilation, and the use of masks whenever they are recommended.
“But in the case of air pollution, the most important recommendation is that in those countries where the levels of air pollution are very high, we need to enforce legislation to reduce those levels of air pollution,” Dr. Neira noted.
She added that citizens should be aware of the fact that the air pollution is affecting their health, and by doing so, requesting the authorities at the city or country level to tackle the causes of air pollution, reducing the emissions and stopping the burning of fossil fuels, which are contributing enormously to this air pollution, and thereby preventing the illnesses that exposure to air pollution is causing.