ABSTRACT
The existing finite natural resources have witnessed unsustainable usage in the past few years, especially for food production, with accompanying environmental devastation and ecosystem damage. Regrettably, the global population and consumption demands are increasing ceaselessly, leading to the need for more resources for food production, which could potentially aggravate the sustainability and ecosystem degradation issues, while stimulating drastic climate change. Meanwhile, the unexpected emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic and some implemented measures to combat its spread disrupted agricultural activities and the food supply chain, which also led to a reduction in ecosystem carbonization. This study sets out to explore policy framework and selected feasible actions that are being adopted during the COVID-19 pandemic, which could potentially reduce the emissions even after the pandemic to promote a resilient and sustainable agri-food system. In this study, we reviewed 27 articles that focus on the current state of the agri-food system in light of the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the decarbonization of the agroecosystem. This review has taken the form of a systematic methodology in analyzing the adoption and implementation of various measures to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 on the impact of the agri-food system and reduction in ecosystem degradation. Up to 0.3 Mt of CO2 reduction from the agri-food system alone was reportedly achieved during the first 6 months of the pandemic in 23 European countries. The various adopted measures indicate that the circular economy approach is a panacea to achieve the needed sustainability in the agri-food system. Also, it dictates a need for a paradigm change towards improvement on localized food production that promotes sustainable production and consumption.
ABSTRACT
With the advent of technologies in many countries, pharmaceutically active compounds (PhAC), personal care products (PPCPs), and other medicines have been treated by particular facilities. Although the overall rate of PhACs extraction from hospital wastewater (HWW) through different secondary wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has been high equal to 79–99%, activity and proliferation of neurotransmitters are inhibited by antiseptics due to the low removal rate of some elements, such as naproxen, excellent-performance technologies are still needed. Venlafaxine and citalopram are the most used antidepressants associated with 10–12% removal value through WWTPs. While HWW contains various types of antibiotics, they improve biocides’ bacterial tolerance against treatment. Ozonation is one of the methods to enhance biodegradability, whereas biofilm reactors have effectively removed emerging contaminants (ECs). Combined activate sludge (CAS) and membrane filtration bioreactors will potently exclude compounds, but previous studies show that membrane filtration bioreactors are around 30%-55% more efficient. ECs elimination in tertiary treatment has shown its great ability rather than conventional treatment sectors. Moreover, ozone treatment can decrease in PPCPs value as 90–98% through activated carbon beds. Activated carbon (NAC) has shown its full capability for micropollutants removal from PAC and membrane bioreactors as well as PPCP reside removal from treated effluents. The ratio of infect COVID-19 in one area was directly proportional, as revealed by SARS-CoV-2 detection in both HWW and wastewater in almost all countries. In this research study, multiple treatment techniques are evaluated in order to offer great-performance technology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of International Journal of Environmental Analytical Chemistry is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)
ABSTRACT
Scientific advancements from 2002–2020 for coronaviruses, i.e., SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV outbreaks, could lead towards a better understanding of the exposure to a health crisis. However, data on its transmission routes and persistence in the environment is still in need of the hour. In this review, we discuss the impact of environmental matrices on dealing with the consequences of the global COVID-19 outbreak. We have compiled the most recent data on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of the diseases. The review aims to help researchers and the larger public recognize and deal with the consequences of co-occurring viral indicators for COVID-19 and provide nano-technological perspectives of possible diagnostic and treatment tools for further studies. The review highlights environmental wastes such as hospital wastewater effluents, pathogen-laden waste, pathogen-laden ground/surface water, wastewater sludge residues and discusses their potential remediation technologies, i.e., pathogen-contaminated soil disposal, municipal and medical solid waste collection, recycling, and final disposal. Finally, holistic suggestions to tackle environmental-related issues by the scientific community have been provided, where scientists, consultants may involve in a tiered assessment from the hazard to risk management in the post-COVID-19 world.
ABSTRACT
End 2019, the zoonotic severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), named COVID-19 for coronavirus disease 2019, is the third adaptation of a contagious virus following the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus in 2002, SARS-CoV, and the Middle East respiratory syndrome virus in 2012, MERS-CoV. COVID-19 is highly infectious and virulent compared to previous outbreaks. We review sources, contagious routes, preventive measures, pandemic, outbreak, epidemiology of SARS-CoV, MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 from 2002 to 2020 using a Medline search. We discuss the chronology of the three coronaviruses, the vulnerability of healthcare workers, coronaviruses on surface and in wastewater, diagnostics and cures, and measures to prevent spreading.