India has long faced a pollution problem; 21 of the 30 cities with the worst air pollution in the world are in India, according to IQAir AirVisual's 2019 World Air Quality Report. There are fears that pollution could compound the danger of Covid-19.
Stubble burning, the practice of intentionally setting fire to cultivated fields to prepare the land for its next crop, is one of the chief drivers of India's so-called annual pollution season, which begins each winter.It is especially bad in cities like the capital New Delhi, where smog from the burning crop fields, vehicular emissions, power plants, construction sites, and smoke from Diwali firecrackers combine to create a toxic cloud that lingers until spring.
There are other factors that raise the danger of infection, he said -- when it's cold, people stay indoors more often and keep their windows closed, which creates poor ventilation. Farmers conducting stubble burning in a paddy field in Amritsar, India, on October 18.A study released this spring by Harvard University examined more than 3,000 counties across the United States, and found that higher levels of air pollution were linked to higher death rates from Covid-19.
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