Air pollution triggered serious problems, says health expert

By Shalini Bhardwaj
New Delhi [India], November 6 : As the level of air quality in Delhi degraded post-Diwali, Dr Arunesh Kumar, the Head of Department (HOD) of Pulmonology at Paras Hospital, Gurugram on Saturday said that air pollution has triggered serious health problems.
He also warned against the risk of inclination in the COVID-19 cases due to pollution, combined with winter air.
"(We) shouldn't be comparing, but both (COVID and pollution) are equally dangerous. In a way, pollution is a perennial phenomenon. It's nothing new for us. Delhi's average Air Quality Index (AQI), barring a few months of total lockdown, is never normal," he told ANI.
"It's important to recognise that in that context our environment is never healthy. We always breathe polluted air. COVID doesn't help as, with winter and fog, infections might increase as there's a risk of the virus being entrapped in droplets in the environment with cold air above us," he added.
"Most of the time it's about the duration of pollution which matters rather than an acute surge. In Delhi-NCR, we are more prone to be awake when there is a trigger as people feel that suddenly their breathing problems get worse. But the fact is our AQI is never normal," he further added.
Notably, despite the Delhi government's total ban on the sale and use of firecrackers on Diwali, several people in Delhi and the National Capital Region (NCR) were seen bursting crackers.
This exaggerated the already alarming air quality of the national capital.
According to SAFAR, the AQI of Delhi (overall) stood at 437, wherein the concentration of PM 2.5 was 318, while that of PM 10 was reported to be 448.
Meanwhile, the pollution levels in the National Capital Region (NCR) were also worrisome. Noida reported AQI in the 'hazardous' category at 523, while the air quality in Gurugram was at the upper end of the 'severe' category at 469.