Investigation of the effect of air pollution parameters on COVID-۱۹: Case study of Tehran metropolitan

The outbreak of COVID-۱۹ is a global health crisis that has affected all countries of the world. The growing trend in the number of people infected with coronavirus and the rapid spread of new strains of the virus have prompted researchers to conduct more extensive research on its aggravating factors. Many factors can influence an epidemic of viral disease. Atmospheric parameters such as the type of pollutants and local weather play an important role in COVID-۱۹ cases and mortality. Air pollution is one of the most pressing environmental challenges in Tehran, which aggravates respiratory and cardiovascular diseases as well as Covid-۱۹ disease. This study focuses on the effect of air pollutants (NO, NO۲, NOX, CO, SO۲, O۳, PM۲.۵, and PM۱۰) and climate parameters (e.g. temperature, humidity, wind speed, air pressure) on COVID-۱۹ distribution in Tehran, Iran. The contribution of each meteorological station to meteorological data was determined by the Thyssen polygon method. Finally, a sensitivity analysis was calculated to assess the effect of each parameter on the spread of COVID-۱۹. The results revealed that the concentration of the pollutants has a direct effect on the spread of COVID-۱۹. For example, a ۱۰% variation of PM۲.۵ resulted in a increase in the number of infected people from ۵۵۰ to ۱۱۹۰. However, the climate parameters of temperature and humidity, wind speed and air pressure had inversely related to the number of cases of COVID-۱۹ infection. Among different climate factors, temperature showed the highest effect on the spread of COVID-۱۹. For example, by ۱۰% decrement in temperature, the number of COVID-۱۹-infected people increased from ۵۵۰ to ۱۲۵۰ (almost ۲ times).

Keywords:

COVID-۱۹ , Air pollution , Climate change , Tehran