Pollution may increase risk of COVID-19 infections

As Delhi's air quality deteriorates to the 'severe' category, doctors opine that the pollution might increase the risk of COVID-19 infections in the national capital and can also hinder brain development in younger children. "With winter and fog, COVID-19 infections might increase as there's a risk of the virus being entrapped in droplets in the environment with cold air above us," Dr Arunesh Kumar, Head of Department (HOD) of Pulmonology at Gurugram's Paras Hospital said.

"Shouldn't be comparing, but both (COVID-19 and pollution) are equally dangerous. In a way, pollution is a perennial phenomenon. It's nothing new for us. Delhi's average AQI, barring a few months of total lockdown, is never normal. It's important to recognise that in that context our environment is never healthy. We always breathe polluted air," he added. Dr Kumar further said, "Most of the time it's about the duration of pollution which matters rather than the acute surge. In Delhi-NCR we're more prone to be awake when there's a trigger as people feel that suddenly their breathing problems get worse. But the fact is our AQI is never normal."

Expressing concern over the effect pollution is having on people, especially the younger children, Dr Naresh Trehan, Medanta Hospital Chairman and MD said, "Everyone will suffer from air pollution. People are complaining of headaches, breathing problems especially people with asthma and lung problems. Young children are very vulnerable and this pollution can affect their brain development."

"Hospital is full of patients. So this is a difficult phase for us. Every year we face this problem but have failed to address or correct it," he added. As per the Centre-run System of Air Quality and Weather Forecasting And Research (SAFAR), the air quality would not improve until Sunday evening. The improvement would, however, just fluctuate in the 'very poor' category.

According to SAFAR, the concentrations of PM 2.5 stood at 436 i.e 'severe' category, on Saturday in Delhi. Meanwhile, the pollution levels in the National Capital Region (NCR), namely Noida and Gurugram, was also worrisome. Noida reported AQI in the 'hazardous' category at 523, while the air quality in Gurugram was at the upper end of the 'severe' category at 469.

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(ANI)