‘Air pollution may exacerbate COVID-19 risks’

With the ongoing Covid pandemic having airborne transmission, particulate matter (PM) in the air could act as a carrier to increase the spread of the virus, experts said.AIIMS Patna Associate Professor, Dr Abhishek Shankar, said that air pollution is one of the greatest challenges and there have been discussions at global level for strategic solutions to this concern. This has become more important at present in view of positive correlation between air pollution and the spread of the coronavirus, he added.”These can be well understood with two hypotheses. First, Covid-19, like other viruses, has an airborne transmission, and PM could act as a carrier to increase the spread of the virus. Secondly, PM could induce damage to lung cells, increase inflammation leading to increase in mortality and this effect can be more pronounced in most polluted areas,” Shankar told IANS.



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