How Did Air Pollution Affect Covid-19 Patients?

A monitor tracks a patient's parameters at the BKC jumbo field
hospital, one of the largest COVID-19 facilities in Mumbai, India,
Thursday, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
A monitor tracks a patient's parameters at the BKC jumbo field hospital, one of the largest COVID-19 facilities in Mumbai, India, Thursday, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
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How Did Air Pollution Affect Covid-19 Patients?

A monitor tracks a patient's parameters at the BKC jumbo field
hospital, one of the largest COVID-19 facilities in Mumbai, India,
Thursday, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
A monitor tracks a patient's parameters at the BKC jumbo field hospital, one of the largest COVID-19 facilities in Mumbai, India, Thursday, May 6, 2021. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)

People exposed to air pollution experienced Covid-19 as if they were 10 years older, and were more likely to die from the infection, two new studies found.

According to The Guardian, the first study conducted by Belgian researchers, followed more than 300 patients who were hospitalized with Covid-19 between May 2020 and March 2021.

Data on the levels of three pollutants – fine particles, nitrogen dioxide and soot – at the patients’ homes were gathered and the amount of soot in the patients’ blood was also measured.

Other factors known to affect Covid-19 disease, such as age, sex and weight, were taken into account.

The researchers found that people exposed to high levels of air pollution experienced Covid-19 symptoms as if they were 10 years older.

They also found people exposed to the higher level of pollutants a week before hospital admission went on to spend about four more days in hospital, adding that the lower level of air pollution resulted in health improvements equivalent to 40-80% of the benefits of medicines used to treat Covid, such as remdesivir.

The study showed that air pollution levels measured in patients’ blood were linked to a 36% increase in the risk of needing intensive care treatment.

“Reducing air pollution, even when at relatively low levels, increases the health of the population and makes them less susceptible to future pandemics,” said Prof. Tim Nawrot, at Hasselt University in Belgium.

“The pandemic placed an enormous strain on doctors, nurses and other healthcare workers. Our research suggests that air pollution made that burden even greater,” he added.

The second study, conducted by researchers from Denmark, used Denmark’s national Covid-19 surveillance system to follow all 3.7 million people in the country aged 30 or older over the first 14 months of the pandemic. It found patients exposed to higher level of small particle air pollution in 2019 were about 23% more likely to go on to die from Covid-19.

Dr. Zorana Jovanovic Andersen, at the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and senior author of the Danish study, said: “These results show how air pollution can compromise our immune system and leave us vulnerable. Reduction of air pollution should be at the heart of preventive measures for current and future pandemics.”

Air pollution is known to be a major risk factor in aggravating respiratory diseases. It increases inflammation in the lungs and weakens immune defenses.



Australia’s New South Wales Sweats through Heatwave, Faces ‘Extreme’ Bushfire Risk

A view of the Anzac Bridge and Sydney Tower Eye at sunrise in Sydney, Australia, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
A view of the Anzac Bridge and Sydney Tower Eye at sunrise in Sydney, Australia, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
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Australia’s New South Wales Sweats through Heatwave, Faces ‘Extreme’ Bushfire Risk

A view of the Anzac Bridge and Sydney Tower Eye at sunrise in Sydney, Australia, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)
A view of the Anzac Bridge and Sydney Tower Eye at sunrise in Sydney, Australia, March 14, 2025. (Reuters)

Australia's New South Wales on Sunday sweated in a heat wave that raised the risk of bushfires and prompted authorities to issue a total fire ban for state capital Sydney.

New South Wales, coming to the end of a high-risk bushfire season that runs until the end of March, was a focus of a catastrophic 2019-2020 "Black Summer" of wildfires that destroyed an area the size of Turkey and killed 33 people.

On Sunday, the nation's weather forecaster said temperatures would be up to 12 degrees Celsius (21.6 degrees Fahrenheit) above average in some areas of the state, with temperatures in Sydney, Australia's most populous city, set to hit 37C (98.6F).

At Sydney Airport, the temperature was already 29.3C (84.7 F) at 9:30 a.m. local time, more than three degrees above the March mean maximum temperature, according to forecaster data.

Gusty winds, "hot conditions and low relative humidity will result in extreme fire danger over the greater Sydney region," the forecaster said on its website.

The state's Rural Fire Service said on X that a total fire ban was in place for large swaths of the state including Sydney due to the forecast of "hot, dry and windy conditions".

In neighboring Victoria state, a home was destroyed in a bushfire on the outskirts of Melbourne that was being battled by around 200 firefighters, Country Fire Authority official Bernard Barbetti told the Australian Broadcasting Corp on Sunday.

Climate change is causing extreme heat and fire weather to become more common in Australia, a bushfire-prone country of around 27 million, the country's science agency said last year.