ABSTRACT
Due to the COVID-19 outbreak, Wuhan was locked down from 23 January 2020 to 8 April 2020, a total of 76 days. It is well known that the electricity consumption is a direct reflection of human activity. During the lockdown of Wuhan, most of human activities were forbidden. The reduction in human activity would inevitably lead to a reduction in electricity consumption. At the same time, anthropogenic emissions of air pollutants would also be reduced with the reduction of human activity. In this study, the correlation between electricity consumption and air pollutants during lockdown was discussed in detail. The result showed that the drop in pollutants concentrations in January should be attributed to the washout effect of rainfall rather than the lockdown. The decrease of electricity consumption in the secondary industry might play a significant role on the decrease of PM 2.5 and NO2 concentrations in Wuhan in February 2020. The decrease in NO2 concentration in March should be attributed to the reduction of pollutants emissions from the tertiary industry, which means that more attention should be paid to the control of NO2 emission in the tertiary industry. Due to reduced emissions from local sources, the role of long-range transport sources might be more significant during the lockdown of Wuhan. By PSCF analysis, southeast of Wuhan could be the major potential emission sources of PM 2.5 , especially in the northern part of Jiangxi province. It was suggested that stricter regulation of pollutants emissions should be implemented in this area.
ABSTRACT
Objective: This research aims to analyze the application regularity of Chinese patent medicine during the COVID-19 epidemic by collecting the names of the top three Chinese patent medicines used by 24 hospitals in 14 provinces of China in four time periods (January 20-22, February 16-18, March 01-03, April 01-03, 2020), and explore its contribution to combating the disease. Methods: 1) We built a database of the top three Chinese patent medicines used by 24 hospitals. 2) The frequency and efficacy distribution of Chinese patent medicine were analyzed with risk areas, regions, and hospitals of different properties as three factors. 3) Finally, we analyzed the differences in the use of heat-clearing and non-heat-clearing medicines among the three factors (χ2 test) and the correlation between the Chinese patent medicine and COVID-19 epidemic (correlation analysis) with SPSS 23.0 statistical software. Results: 1) The heat-clearing medicine was the main use category nationwide during January 20-22, 2020. Meanwhile, there was a significant difference in the utilization rate of heat-clearing and non-heat-clearing medicine in different risk areas (p < 0.01). 2) The variety of Chinese patent medicine was increased nationwide during February 16-18, 2020, mainly including tonics, blood-activating and resolving-stasis, and heat-clearing medicines. Meanwhile, there was a significant difference in the utilization rate of heat-clearing and non-heat-clearing medicine in the southern and northern regions (p < 0.05). 3) Tonics, and blood-activating and resolving-stasis medicines became the primary use categories nationwide during March 01-03, 2020. 4) The tonics class, and blood-activating and resolving-stasis medicine were still the primary categories nationwide during April 01-03, 2020. Meanwhile, there was a significant difference in the utilization rate of heat-clearing and non-heat-clearing medicine in different risk areas (p < 0.01). Conclusion: Chinese patent medicine has a certain degree of participation in fighting against the COVID-19. The efficacy distribution is related to the risk area, region, and hospital of different properties, among which the risk area is the main influencing factor. It is hoped that future research can further collect the application amount of Chinese patent medicine used in hospitals all over the country, so as to perfectly reflect the relationship between Chinese patent medicine and the epidemic situation.