Pollution Recedes Amid Lockdown, And A View Of The Himalayas Emerges For The First Time In 30 Years
by Marley Coyne
Topline: Residents in north India’s Punjab—where a nationwide coronavirus lockdown has curtailed daily activity—shared a rare look at the snow peaks of the Himalayas, a view that has for decades been obscured by the state’s heavy air pollution.
- India, with 1.3 billion residents, is consistently rated as one of the worst polluted countries in the world, according to IQAir, but the coronavirus lockdown has eased the problem’s severity.
- Accompanying a significant dip in automobile and flight traffic, at least 85 Indian cities had cleaner air, one study reported, following the first week of the March 25 lockdown.
- In Jalandhar, Punjab, air quality received a “good” rating 16 out of 17 days post-lockdown—a feat not achieved even once during the same period last year.
- “If the air cleans up like this, forget mountain ranges, we may even see god soon,” one Twitter user joked.
- The Himalayan mountain range is the world’s highest and includes Mount Everest.