Quantifying the COVID Clean-up of Air Quality in Colombo

Abstract

This Insight quantifies the improvements in air quality in Colombo during periods of Covid19 related restrictions and reveals that the Covid19 restrictions have led to a 60% reduction in the average duration of time that people in Colombo were exposed to air that was unhealthy. To quantify the Covid-19 clean-up of air quality in Colombo, the average air quality in the months of November to February, which is usually the worst months for air quality in the city, from 2017 to 2020, has been compared against the air quality observed in November 2020 to February 2021. Furthermore, the main contributor of air pollution in Colombo has been identified as vehicle emissions.