Covid-19: Air pollution improved during China’s lockdowns – and it may have reduced hospital visits

HONG KONG, Oct 10 (SCMP): A drop in air pollution during China’s mass lockdowns to block the spread of Covid-19 earlier this year may have kept thousands of people out of hospital with other illnesses, new research has found.

Reduced levels of the tiny hazardous particles known as PM2.5 were likely to have resulted in an estimated 5,000 fewer hospital admissions and 60,000 fewer respiratory illnesses, like asthma attacks, from late January through February, according to a team of researchers from China, the US, Japan and the Netherlands.