COVID-19 vaccination in the pediatric age and risk for myocarditis

Background: There are some concerns about the cost/benefit ratio of Covid-19 vaccination in children and young adolescents age due to the greater response to immune stimulation. Myocarditis is a feared adverse event (AE). Method(s): On January 4, 2022 we searched the Pubmed and EMBASE datasets for population studies assessing myocarditis events in pediatric subjects, and US nationwide data about COVID-19 vaccinations and AEs. Result(s): The studies selected (n=10) were highly heterogeneous, and did not include subjects <12 years. The estimated incidence of myocarditis in the US was 2.80 over 100,000 in fully vaccinated individuals (i.e., receiving two doses of mRNA vaccines or received one dose of a single-dose vaccine) aged 6-17 years. No events were reported <5 years (n=9,985). The incidence of myocarditis was 1.05 over 100,000 in those aged 18-64 years, and 2.75 over 1,000,000 >=65 years. The incidence of fatal or lifethreatening myocarditis was 3.78 over 1,000,000 6-17 years, 1.78 over 1,000,000 18-64 years, and 8.54 over 10,000,000 >=65 years, with the same order of magnitude than the odds of being struck by lightning. The incidence of COVID-19 myocarditis is 1.33 in 1000 <16 years, i.e., 47.5-fold higher than fully vaccinated individuals. Conclusion(s): The reported incidence of myocarditis in subjects aged >=12 years is slightly higher in males and after the second dose, but extremely low. No case of myocarditis <5 years were reported in the US. In fully vaccinated individuals aged 6-17 years, the estimated incidence of myocarditis was far lower than the risk of COVID-19 myocarditis. (Figure Presented).

Relationship between Lightning, Lightning Fire and Human Activities

Lightning is the main source of natural fire, and lightning fire and other types of forest fires together constitute the global forest fire system. It is generally believed that lightning fire, as a natural fire source, has nothing to do with human beings and is different from man-made fire sources, but in fact, human activities have inextricable links with the occurrence of lightning fire. Since 2019, due to the severe impact of COVID-19 lockdowns, non-essential activities and mobility have decreased, which has led to a significant decrease in pollutant concentrations and lightning. In this paper, we linked the lightning fire with modernization process of human beings, the expansion of habitation, the change of underlying surface, the development of prediction technology and firefighting technology, and the laws and regulations of the country, to explore the impact of human activities on the occurrences of lightning and the forest lightning fire. Lightning is the fire source of the three elements in lightning fire occurrence, the lightning that can cause lightning fire is mainly cloud-to-ground lightning. The human activities in recent decades have profoundly affected the content of aerosols in environment. Aerosols are the main factors affecting lightning, and the large amount of pollution aerosols emitted from urban areas, soot aerosols emitted from biomass combustion and urban heat island effect have all increased the probability of lightning occurrence. The average annual ground lightning density of different land cover types is obviously different, and the construction land has the highest average annual ground lightning density. Intense lightning in forest areas has a higher density and slope. Most of the forests are located in high altitude areas, which is consistent with previous studies showing high lightning frequency in high altitude areas. The lightning in forests is intenser, steeper and more destructive, so forest areas are prone to lightning strikes. Lightning has the characteristic of selective discharge, that is, it will discharge into some special areas, which are also known as lightning selection areas, such as the place groundwater is exposed to the ground, where different conductive soils are connected, and where there are underground metal mines, such as copper and iron mines, and underground lake and water reservoir areas. Lightning strikes are caused by changes in soil conductivity caused by human activities such as mining waste rock sites, reservoir construction on mountain tops, and power transmission lines in mountainous areas. At the same time, due to the abundant trees in the mountainous area, it is also important to avoid the resulting lightning fire. With the development of lightning monitoring technology, a lightning location monitoring system has been established in some areas of China. Especially in 2021, the National Forestry and Grassland Administration launched the "Enlisting and Leading" emergency science and technology project of forest lightning fire prevention and control, and the project team has constructed a lightning fire sensing system in the Daxing'anling region with three-dimensional lightning full-wave detection network as the main body, covering the forest area of the Daxing'anling forest region, which can accurately locate the location of cloud-to-ground lightning in real time, improve the monitoring and warning ability of lightning fires, and improve the efficiency of lightning fire discovery. National laws and regulations indirectly affect lightning fires by affecting forest cover and climate change. This paper is expected to provide reference for the occurrence, prevention and control of forest lightning fire in the future, and provide a basis for the formulation of corresponding policies.

The effects of tie strength and data integration with supply base on supply disruption ambiguity and its impact on inventory turnover

PurposeIn this paper, the authors introduce supply disruption ambiguity as the inability of a sourcing firm to attach probability point estimates to the occurrence of and to the magnitude of loss from supply disruptions. The authors drew on the "ambiguity in decision-making” literature to define this concept formally, connected it to relevant supply disruption information deficit, positioned it relative to supply chain risk assessment and hypothesized and tested its negative associations with both supply base ties and inventory turnover.Design/methodology/approachThe authors analysed survey data from 171 North American manufacturers and archival data for a subset (88 publicly listed) of these manufacturers via Ordinary Least Squares (OLS) estimation after ensuring that methodological concerns with survey research have been addressed. They used appropriate controls and employed the heteroskedasticity-based instrumental variable (HBIV) approach to ensure that inferences from our results are not unduly influenced by endogeneity.FindingsStrong supply base ties decrease supply disruption ambiguity, which, in turn, increases inventory turnover. Moreover, strong supply base ties and data integration with the supply base have indirect and positive effects on inventory turnover. As sourcing firms strengthen ties and integrate data exchange with their supply base, their inventory turnover improves from access to information relevant to detect and diagnose supply disruptions effectively.Originality/valueResearch on supply disruption management has paid more attention to the "disruption recovery” stage than to the "disruption discovery” stage. In this paper, the authors add novel insights regarding the recognition and diagnosis aspects of the "disruption discovery” stage. These novel insights reveal how and why sourcing firms reduce their overall ambiguity associated with detecting and assessing losses from supply disruptions through establishing strong ties with their supply base and how and why reducing such ambiguity improves inventory turnover performance.

New ITU-T Study Group 5 Structure and Deliberations

The NTT Group is participating in the international standardization activities in the International Telecommunication Union - Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T) Study Group (SG) 5 to protect telecommunication facilities from electromagnetic interference and lightning surges, assess the impact of information and communication technologies on climate change, address the issue of a circular economy that enables sustainable development, and contribute to improving the reliability of telecommunication services and reducing the environmental impact of its business activities. In this article, we introduce the study structure of ITU-T SG5 for the new study period (2022–2024), which has finally started due to the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the latest discussion trends at the first meeting held in June 2022. © 2022 Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corp.. All rights reserved.

Efficient bloodless mechanical thrombectomy for massive dural sinus thrombosis associated with COVID-19 using the 12-French Penumbra Lightning intelligent aspiration system.

Endovascular treatment for dural sinus thrombosis is typically reserved for a small subset of patients who fail medical management. Conventional neurovascular aspiration catheters are suboptimal for use in dural sinus thrombosis given their relatively small caliber with respect to the large dural sinuses and risk of significant blood loss if continuous suction is applied through the catheter as it traverses patent portions of the large veins. We present a case where the Penumbra Lightning aspiration system, currently approved for thrombectomy in the peripheral and pulmonary vasculature, was successfully used for dural sinus thrombectomy with rapid clinical improvement of the patient.

Peculiarities of COVID-19 course in a multimorbid elderly patient (clinal case report)

The problem of coronavirus infection is sweeping the world at lightning speed in 2020. It is because the pandemic has spread across the globe. There is not a single corner of the globe that the virus has not reached. High contagiousness and, consequently, high morbidity and mortality initially affected the world and the entire medical community. Doctors did not know how to treat or what to do. A period of panic started in the public health service of almost all countries. Kazakhstan is no exception. The sad statistics are as follows: as of 31.01.2021, 103 million 213 thousand 392 people were infected. 2,231,154 people died. The mortality rate was 2.16%. We offer to your attention a clinical case of an elderly patient with a confirmed diagnosis of Covid-19 against a background of multimorbid somatic pathology. Copyright © 2022 Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications. All rights reserved.

COVID-19 vaccination from 6 to 17 years carries a similar risk for fatal or life-threatening myocarditis than being struck by lightning

Background and Aim: There are some concerns about the cost/ben-efit ratio of Covid-19 vaccination in the pediatric age due to the greater response to immune stimulation in children and young adolescents. Myocarditis is a feared adverse event (AE). Method(s): On January 4, 2022 we searched the Pubmed and EMBASE datasets for population studies assessing myocarditis events in pediatric subjects, and the US nationwide data about COVID-19 vaccinations and AEs. Result(s): The studies selected (n = 10) were highly heterogeneous, and did not include subjects lt;12 years. In a nationwide study the incidence of myocarditis was 1.34 over 100,000 in males and 7 over 1,000,000 in females aged 16-19 years after the first dose, and 1.51 over 10,000 in males and 4.6 over 1,000,000 in females after the second dose. All studies with available data reported a higher risk in males and after the second dose. Based on US data, the estimated incidence of myocarditis was 2.80 over 100,000 in fully vaccinated individuals (i.e., receiving two doses of mRNA vaccines or received one dose of a single-dose vaccine) aged 6-17 years. No events were reported in subjects lt;5 years (n = 9,985). The incidence of myocarditis was 1.05 over 100,000 in those aged 18-64 years, and 2.75 over 1,000,000 >=65 years. The incidence of fatal or life-threatening myocarditis was 3.78 over 1,000,000 6-17 years, 1.78 over 1,000,000 18-64 years, and 8.54 over 10,000,000 >=65 years, with the same order of mag-nitude than the odds of being struck by lightning (around 2 over 1,000,000). The incidence of COVID-19 myocarditis is 1.33 in 1000 lt;16 years, i.e., 47.5-fold higher than fully vaccinated individuals. Conclusion(s): The reported incidence of myocarditis in subjects aged >=12 years is slightly higher in males and after the second dose, but extremely low. No case of myocarditis lt;5 years were reported in the US. In fully vaccinated individuals aged 6-17 years, the esti-mated incidence of myocarditis was 2.80 over 100,000, and of fatal or life-threatening myocarditis 3.78 over 1,000,000, with the same order of magnitude than being struck by lightning, and far lower than the risk of COVID-19 myocarditis.

Does COVID-19 Behave as Lightning Strike?

Early stages of an epidemic are characterized by exponential growth in the number of infected cases, corresponding to the effective reproduction number greater than 1. After deliberate interventions in the disease transmission are introduced, the effective reproduction number should drop below 1. The number of active infections should follow the downward trend conditioned by the stringency of the measures and drop exponentially. The growth phase is in general of shorter duration than the decay phase. This asymmetry imposes itself as an aggravating factor onto common mathematical models used to capture the epidemic dynamics. To overcome aforementioned issue, in this paper, we compare the functional form of the epidemic dynamics with the analytical expression often found in the lightning research and standardization. Computational examples are given for different countries that kept track of the number of daily positive cases, recovered cases and deaths during the period of the first outbreak of Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). © 2022 University of Split, FESB.

CSES Satellite Observations of 50 Hz Power Line Radiation Over Mainland China and Its Response to COVID‐19

We present a low‐altitude satellite survey of power line harmonic radiation (PLHR) at 50 Hz over Mainland China. We analyzed the month‐to‐month variation pattern in PLHR occurrence rate and further analyzed its correlation with some influencing factors (i.e., solar radiation, lightning flashes, and electricity consumption) using CSES satellite electric field data from 2019 to 2021. We also investigate the response of PLHR occurrence rate to COVID‐19. The statistical results show the dayside PLHR occurrence rate decreasing from winter to summer solstice and increasing from summer to winter solstice, which indicates it is controlled by the solar radiation. The nightside variation is more complex, which may be due to many sources that could influence the nightside lower ionosphere. The PLHR occurrence rate significantly decreased over Mainland China in February 2020, which is because of the significant decrease in electricity consumption due to the suspension of industrial production caused by COVID‐19.Alternate :Plain Language SummaryPower line harmonic radiation (PLHR) is the electromagnetic waves radiated by electric power systems at harmonic frequencies of 50 or 60 Hz, depending on the frequency of the system on the ground. Previous research mainly focuses on identification of individual PLHR events and their subsequent analysis. However, the number of base‐frequency PLHR signal events is the most abundant, which is suitable for the statistical study of PLHR occurrence rate and its variation pattern, and further study of the factors affecting its variation pattern. In this paper, we use 3 years of electric field data from the China Seismo‐Electromagnetic Satellite (CSES) which is an LEO satellite launched into orbit in February 2018 to investigate the month‐to‐month variation pattern of PLHR occurrence rate over Mainland China and its correlation with the influencing factors. The response of PLHR occurrence rate to COVID‐19 are also investigated.

Evaluating NOx emissions and their effect on O3 production in Texas using TROPOMI NO2 and HCHO

The Tropospheric Monitoring Instrument (TROPOMI) on the Sentinel-5 Precursor (S5P) satellite is a valuable source of information to monitor the NOx emissions that adversely affect air quality. We conduct a series of experiments using a 4×4 km2 Comprehensive Air Quality Model with Extensions (CAMx) simulation during April–September 2019 in eastern Texas to evaluate the multiple challenges that arise from reconciling the NOx emissions in model simulations with TROPOMI. We find an increase in NO2 (+17 % in urban areas) when transitioning from the TROPOMI NO2 version 1.3 algorithm to the version 2.3.1 algorithm in eastern Texas, with the greatest difference (+25 %) in the city centers and smaller differences (+5 %) in less polluted areas. We find that lightningNOx emissions in the model simulation contribute up to 24 % of the column NO2 in the areas over the Gulf of Mexico and 8% in Texas urban areas. NOx emissions inventories, when using locally resolved inputs, agree with NOx emissions derived from TROPOMI NO2 version 2.3.1 to within 20 % in most circumstances, with a small NOx underestimate in Dallas–Fort Worth (-13 %) and Houston (-20 %). In the vicinity of large power plant plumes (e.g., Martin Lake and Limestone) we find larger disagreements, i.e., the satellite NO2 is consistently smaller by 40 %–60 % than the modeled NO2, which incorporates measured stack emissions. We find that TROPOMI is having difficulty distinguishingNO2 attributed to power plants from the background NO2 concentrations in Texas – an area with atmospheric conditions that cause short NO2 lifetimes. Second, the NOx/NO2 ratio in the model may be underestimated due to the 4 km grid cell size. To understand ozone formation regimes in the area, we combine NO2 column information with formaldehyde (HCHO) column information. We find modest low biases in the model relative to TROPOMI HCHO, with -9 % underestimate in eastern Texas and -21 % in areas of central Texas with lower biogenic volatile organic compound (VOC) emissions. Ozone formation regimes at the time of the early afternoon overpass are NOx limited almost everywhere in the domain, except along the Houston Ship Channel, near the Dallas/Fort Worth International airport, and in the presence of undiluted power plant plumes. There are likely NOx-saturated ozone formation conditions in the early morning hours that TROPOMI cannot observe and would be well-suited for analysis with NO2 and HCHO from the upcoming TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring Pollution) mission. This study highlights that TROPOMI measurements offer a valuable means to validate emissions inventories and ozone formation regimes, with important limitations.

Lightning strikes thrice

Introduction: A case of multiple co-existing conditions during pregnancy in a previously fit and well individual. Case Report: A 24-year-old woman presented at 37 weeks during her second pregnancy with a five day history of vomiting and abdominal pain. She had no significant past medical history. Her oxygen saturations were low so she received treatment for aspiration pneumonia. Her initial COVID-19 antigen test was negative however subsequent PCR was positive. The cause of her acute abdomen was unclear, with the differentials being perforated duodenal ulcer, pancreatitis and appendicitis. With input from general surgery, obstetrics and anaesthesia a decision was made to proceed with a diagnostic laparotomy. Classical caesarean section was performed at the beginning of the procedure. A healthy baby was delivered and laparotomy revealed pancreatitis. Due to high intraoperative oxygen requirements, shewas kept intubated and transferred to intensive care post operatively. An echocardiogram revealed biventricular failure and she was commenced on treatment for peripartum cardiomyopathy. Overall, she remained intubated for nine days andwas discharged from hospital 16 days following her surgery. Followup echocardiogram four months after hospital discharge showed her left ventricular ejection fraction remained <35%. Discussion: COVID-19 is increasingly common these days so it is likely to co-exist with other conditions. The incidence of acute pancreatitis during pregnancy is approximately one in 3000 and the incidence of peripartum cardiomyopathy is also approximately one in 3000 in the western world [1,2]. This case serves as a reminder that multiple conditions may be present in one individual and highlights the importance of completing a full set of investigations. This patient had multiple reasons for respiratory failure, however, an echocardiogram was necessary to reveal peripartum cardiomyopathy. Her ejection fraction remains low which puts her at high risk of mortality for future pregnancies. However, this diagnosis has allowed her to receive the appropriate follow up and counselling.

Edge Computing and Lightning Network Empowered Secure Food Supply Management

The recent COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of food safety and supply chain governance. In other words, we need to ensure traceability along the supply chain and support high-frequency transactions, effective data collections, etc. Thus, we posit the potential of using a lightning network, which is a decentralized traceable paradigm for achieving high-frequency transactions in blockchain-based systems. In addition, we also utilize edge computing to help facilitate data collection. However, a key challenge in securing food supplies is determining the optimal global transaction path in the lightning network while achieving efficiency and meeting the dynamic nature of food supply management. Thus, we propose a blockchain-edge scheme that utilizes our proposed dynamic programming to produce optimal solutions for selecting global transaction paths. Specifically, our scheme optimizes routing fees under existing constraints (e.g., transmission cost, computing resource consumption, and lightning network balance). The findings from our evaluations demonstrate the utility of our proposed approach in facilitating food safety management.

Development for Multisensor and Virtual Simulator–Based Automatic Broadcast Shooting System

To solve the limitations of complexity and repeatability of existing broadcast filming systems, a new broadcast filming system was developed. In particular, for Korean music broadcasts, the shooting sequence is stage and lighting installation, rehearsal, lighting effect production, and main shooting;however, this sequence is complex and involves multiple people. We developed an automatic shooting system that can produce the same effect as the sequence with a minimum number of people as the era of un-tact has emerged because of COVID-19. The developed system comprises a simulator. After developing a stage using the simulator, during rehearsal, dancers’ movements are acquired using UWB and two-dimensional (2D) LiDAR sensors. By inserting acquired movement data in the developed stage, a camera effect is produced using a virtual camera installed in the developed simulator. The camera effect comprises pan, tilt, and zoom, and a camera director creates lightning effects while evaluating the movements of virtual dancers on the virtual stage. In this study, four cameras were used, three of which were used for camera pan, tilt, and zoom control, and the fourth was used as a fixed camera for a full shot. Video shooting is performed according to the pan, tilt, and zoom values ​​of the three cameras and switcher data. Only the video of dancers recorded during rehearsal and that produced by the lighting director via the existing broadcast filming process is overlapped in the developed simulator to assess lighting effects. The lighting director assesses the overlapping video and then corrects parts that require to be corrected or emphasized. The abovementioned method produced better lighting effects optimized for music and choreography compared to existing lighting effect production methods. Finally, the performance and lighting effects of the developed simulator and system were confirmed by shooting using K-pop using the pan, tilt, and zoom control plan, switcher sequence, and lighting effects of the selected camera.

A Succession of Cloud, Precipitation, Aerosol, and Air Quality Field Experiments in the Coastal Urban Environment

Within this context, fundamental questions regarding the life cycle of convective clouds, aerosols, and pollutants have brought together a diverse, integrated, and interagency collaboration of scientists to collect and analyze measurements, in the Houston, Texas, area, from the summer of 2021 through the summer of 2022, with subsequent modeling studies to address these important research objectives. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Atmospheric Radiation Measurement (ARM) Facility and Atmospheric System Research (ASR) Program, the National Science Foundation’s (NSF’s) Physical and Dynamic Meteorology Program, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Tropospheric Composition Research and Health and Air Quality Applied Sciences Programs and the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ) are collaborating on a joint set of field campaigns to study the interactions of cloud, aerosol, and pollutants within the coastal, urban environment. Measurement platforms to be deployed: (a) Stony Brook University Weather Truck including dual-polarization X-band phased array radar (ESCAPE), (b) NCAR C-130 aircraft (ESCAPE) (photo credit: C. Wolff), (c) Pandora Spectrometer (TAQ) (photo credit: B. Swap), (d) ARM Tethered Balloon System (TRACER), (e) ARM Mobile Facility (TRACER), (f) C-Band ARM Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (TRACER), (g) Baylor University–University of Houston–Rice University Mobile Air Quality Laboratory (TAQ, TRACER), (h) Johnson Space Flight Center Gulfstream V aircraft (TAQ). Measurement platforms to be deployed: (a) Stony Brook University Weather Truck including dual-polarization X-band phased array radar (ESCAPE), (b) NCAR C-130 aircraft (ESCAPE) (photo credit: C. Wolff), (c) Pandora Spectrometer (TAQ) (photo credit: B. Swap), (d) ARM Tethered Balloon System (TRACER), (e) ARM Mobile Facility (TRACER), (f) C-Band ARM Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (TRACER), (g) Baylor University–University of Houston–Rice University Mobile Air Quality Laboratory (TAQ, TRACER), (h) Johnson Space Flight Center Gulfstream V aircraft (TAQ). Measurement platforms to be deployed: (a) Stony Brook University Weather Truck including dual-polarization X-band phased array radar (ESCAPE), (b) NCAR C-130 aircraft (ESCAPE) (photo credit: C. Wolff), (c) Pandora Spectrometer (TAQ) (photo credit: B. Swap), (d) ARM Tethered Balloon System (TRACER), (e) ARM Mobile Facility (TRACER), (f) C-Band ARM Scanning ARM Precipitation Radar (TRACER), (g) Baylor University–University of Houston–Rice University Mobile Air Quality Laboratory (TAQ, TRACER), (h) Johnson Space Flight Center Gulfstream V aircraft (TAQ). On the ground, multiple fixed and mobile radar systems (Fig. 1a) will be used to track convective cells and perform multi-Doppler analysis for the derivation of velocities within the convective systems over the course of their life cycle.

Challenges of Marketing in COVID-19 Scenario: A Neuro-marketing Approach

The findings in the areas of neuormarketing are just like a lightning strike for the marketers all over the world, as a matter of fact if the purchase behavior of a person can be identified facial expressions and body language;it is going to work like a breakthrough in the field of sales and marketing. The result can be in the form of product and service customization and more creative and dedicated promotion campaigns. These neuromarketing will be affected by this pandemic of COVID-19 but in a short term. Process of studies can be followed and even sampling can be enhanced in the process. This present study will evaluate the scenario of customer preference and behavior in pre and post COVID-19 period. The findings of this present study state that some significant changes has been observed in customer preferences due to the outbreak of COVID-19, but the changes are not significant enough to bring about major changes in the strategic patterns;rather the researcher would like to suggest that the marketers should explore some new dimensions for attracting the customer. This study is based on primary data and the results are analyzed by using SPSS ver. 23.0.

Lightning during the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil.

This study is concerned with the effects of a decrease in the air pollution concentration on the lightning characteristics of two large Brazilian cities. The decrease in air pollution happened from March 20, till April 02, 2020, and it was caused by the social distancing effort to contain the COVID-19 spread in the cities. In São Paulo, the ratio between cloud-to-ground to intracloud flashes and the average peak current of negative cloud-to-ground flashes significantly decreased; whereas in Belo Horizonte, the ratio between positive and negative cloud-to-ground flashes significantly increased with respect to the values in previous years.

Significant decrease of lightning activities during COVID-19 lockdown period over Kolkata megacity in India.

The outbreak of COVID-19 has now created the largest pandemic and the World health organization (WHO) has declared social distancing as the key precaution to confront such type of infections. Most of the countries have taken protective measures by the nationwide lockdown. The purpose of this study is to understand the effect of lockdown on air pollutants and to analyze pre-monsoon (April and May) cloud-to-ground and inter-cloud lightning activity in relation to air pollutants i.e. suspended Particulate matter (PM10), Nitrogen dioxides (NO2) Sulfur dioxide (SO2), Ozone (O3) and Aerosol concentration (AC) in a polluted tropical urban megacities like Kolkata. After the strict lockdown the pollutants rate has reduced by more than 40% from the pre-lockdown period in the Kolkata megacity. So, decreases of PM10, NO2, SO2, O3 and AC have a greater effect on cloud lightning flashes in the pre-monsoon period. In the previous year (2019), the pre-monsoon average result shows a strong positive relation between the lightning and air pollutants; PM10 (R2 = 0.63), NO2 (R2 = 0.63), SO2 (R2 = 0.76), O3 (R2 = 0.68) and AC (R2 = 0.83). The association was relatively low during the lock-down period (pre-monsoon 2020) and the R2 values were 0.62, 0.60, 0.71, 0.64 and 0.80 respectively. Another thing is that the pre-monsoon (2020) lightning strikes decreased by 49.16% compared to the average of previous years (2010 to 2019). The overall study shows that the reduction of surface pollution in the thunderstorm environment is strongly related to the reduction of lightning activity where PM10 and AC are the key pollutants in the Kolkata megacity.