Air quality status before, during and after the pandemic COVID-19 Movement Control Order (MCO) at urban and suburban areas in Malaysia

ABSTRACT

A severe acute respiratory syndrome, COVID-19 outbreak started in December 2019 reported in the city of Wuhan, China has spread rapidly in other countries around the world. Declared as a pandemic, the lockdowns, industrial shutdowns, closing international borders and overall reduced mobility of the population either for tourism or work commutes have led to air pollution reduction. The lockdown implemented worldwide including Malaysia has come as a respite to the environment, especially in air pollutant levels. Utilizing the Air Pollutant Index (API) data recorded on an hourly basis throughout different series of national lockdown phases, this study is undertaken to evaluate the air quality status before, during and after the implementation of MCO by comparing the selected urban and suburban areas in Malaysia. Six (6) locations including Bandaraya Melaka, Cheras and Alor Setar (urban) and Seri Manjung, Kangar and Kuantan (suburban) were chosen in this study. The result revealed that the air quality has shown improvements after a further extension of lockdown days at both urban (API 36.3-61.5%) and suburban areas (API 46.5-48.6%). It has indirectly changed the air quality status from ‘moderate’ to ‘good’ in all 6 urban and suburban areas. The air quality trends, however, gradually deteriorate and has increased as more restrictions were eased at a later stage. The implementation of lockdown measures not only restricted the spread of infection rate but has reduced ambient air pollutants levels that lead to enhanced air quality. The results obtained in this study can be a useful insight for the regulatory agencies in controlling air pollution and restore the environment quality.