Assessing the impact of lockdown in US, Italy and France- What are the changes in air quality?

The COVID-19 outbreak spreads in a drastic manner across the globe. In order to control the spread of virus, several nations introduced lockdown measures along with some hygienic practices includes wearing mask, washing hands frequently, and maintaining social distance and so on. Imposition of such measures reduces the activities of humans and therefore the concentration of air pollutants has been decreased significantly resulting in enhancement of air quality as an add-on benefit. The increase in air contaminants is mainly due to rise in level of particulate matter (PM) in atmosphere and increased concentration of PM2.5 leads to several lung-related ailments and cardiovascular diseases. From the previous study, 7.5% of death around the globe is mainly due to presence of air contaminants in the environment. This paper assessed the impact of COVID-19 on air quality in USA, Italy, and France from March 2020 to May 2020. The climate change is mainly attributed due to air pollutants. The effect of air quality can be interpreted well by means of air pollutants in atmosphere, i.e. PM10, PM2.5, O-3 and NO2 measured during pre and post lockdown. The air quality index has been improved significantly due to imposition of lockdown measures. The influence of this pandemic enables deep understanding among the public about the importance of clean environment.