Accentuating the Interrelation between Consumer Intention and Healthy Packaged Food Selection during COVID-19: A Case Study of Pakistan.

This study contemplates the factors that influence consumer intention, before and during the eruption of COVID-19, for the selection of healthy packaged food in Pakistan. The extant studies have identified two distinct attitudes of consumers about food label information: one is its usefulness and the second elucidates the avoidance. Hence forth, the current study contributes to the extant literature while signifying both reasons which motivate consumers to read food labels and reasons which discourage consumers from consult food labels at the point of purchase. Moreover, the impact of subjective norms and self-efficacy for healthy packaged food intentions has also been examined for both before the emergence of COVID-19 and during the spread of COVID-19. The underpinning of the proposed model has been justified by the behavioral reasoning theory. The cross-sectional data of 14,455 students has was collected from 10 universities through Microsoft Teams and Zoom. AMOS 21 was employed for the final analysis. The results indicate that before COVID-19 the subjective norms and self-efficacy were not the stimulating factors for the selection of healthy packaged food. On the contrary, during the COVID-19 outbreak, the subjective norms and self-efficacy divulged a significant effect. Moreover, the reasons to consult food labels are positively significant whereas the reasons to avoid food labels have negatively affected the consumer, both before COVID-19 and during COVID-19 outbreak, while endorsing healthy packaged food. Conclusively, COVID-19 has been proved to be a deterrent for unhealthy packaged food lovers while being a blessing for healthy packaged food.

The impact of COVID-19 as a necessary evil on air pollution in India during the lockdown.

The study objective is to contemplate the effectiveness of COVID-19 on the air pollution of Indian territory from January 2020 to April 2020. We have executed data from European Space Agency (ESA) and CPCB online portal for air quality data dissemination. The Sentinel - 5 P satellite images elucidate that the Air quality of Indian territory has been improved significantly during COVID-19. Mumbai and Delhi are one of the most populated cities. These two cities have observed a substantial decrease in Nitrogen Dioxide (40-50%) compared to the same period last year. It suggests that the emergence of COVID-19 has been proved to a necessary evil as being advantageous for mitigating air pollution on Indian territory during the lock-down. The study found a significant decline in Nitrogen Dioxide in reputed states of India, i.e., Delhi and Mumbai. Moreover, a faded track of Nitrogen Dioxide can be seen at the Maritime route in the Indian Ocean. An upsurge in the environmental quality of India will also be beneficial for its neighbor countries, i.e., China, Pakistan, Iran, and Afghanistan.

Co-variance nexus between COVID-19 mortality, humidity, and air quality index in Wuhan, China: New insights from partial and multiple wavelet coherence.

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 disease has caused immense damage to our health and economic and social life. This research article helps to determine the impact of climate on the lethality of this disease. Air quality index and average humidity are selected from the family of climate variables, to determine its impact on the daily new cases of COVID-19-related deaths in Wuhan, China. We have used wavelet analysis (wavelet transform coherence (WTC), partial (PWC), and multiple wavelet coherence (MWC), due to its advantages over traditional time series methods, to study the co-movement nexus between our selected data series. Findings suggest a notable coherence between air quality index, humidity, and mortality in Wuhan during a recent outbreak. Humidity is negatively related to the COVID-19-related deaths, and bad air quality leads to an increase in this mortality. These findings are important for policymakers to save precious human lives by better understanding the interaction of the environment with the COVID-19 disease.