<p>Long-term exposure to air pollution may be linked to 15 per cent of Covid-19 deaths globally, according to research published Tuesday that highlights the health risks posed by greenhouse gas emissions.</p>.<p>Previous research has shown how air pollution from exhaust fumes and factories takes two years off the life expectancy of every man, woman and child on Earth.</p>.<p>Now experts in Germany and Cyprus say they have estimated the proportion of deaths from coronavirus that can be blamed of the exacerbating effects of air pollution.</p>.<p>Their study, published in the journal <em>Cardiovascular Research</em>, drew on health and disease data from the US and China relating to air pollution, Covid-19 and SARS -- a serious lung disease similar to Covid.</p>.<p><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tag/coronavirus">For latest updates on Coronavirus outbreak, click here</a></strong></p>.<p>They combined this with satellite data of global exposure to particulate matter -- microscopic particles -- as well as ground-based pollution monitoring networks, to calculate to what extent air pollution can be blamed for Covid-19 deaths.</p>.<p>In East Asia, which has some of the highest levels of harmful pollution on the planet, the authors found that 27 per cent of Covid-19 deaths could be attributed to the health effects of poor air quality.</p>.<p>In Europe, the proportion was 19 per cent, compared with 17 per cent in North America.</p>.<p>"If both long-term exposure to air pollution and infection with the Covid-19 virus come together then we have an adverse effect on health, particularly with respect to the heart and blood vessels," said paper co-author Thomas Munzel.</p>.<p>He said that air pollution made known Covid-19 risk factors such as lung and heart problems more likely.</p>.<p>Specifically, the team noted that particulate matter appeared to increase the activity of a receptor on lung cell surfaces, ACE-2, which is known to be involved in the way Covid-19 infects patients.</p>.<p>"So we have a double hit: air pollution damages the lungs and increases the activity of ACE-2, which in turn leads to enhanced uptake of the virus," said Munzel, a professor at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz.</p>.<p>The authors stressed that attributing Covid-19 deaths to air pollution did not mean that pollution itself was killing people with Covid -- though they didn't rule out such a cause-effect linkage.</p>.<p>Jos Lelieveld, of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, told AFP that the research suggested "the pollution particles are a co-factor in aggravating the disease".</p>.<p>He said their estimates suggested that more than 6,100 Covid deaths in Britain could be attributed to air pollution. In the US that figure is around 40,000.</p>.<p>The authors said that without a fundamental change in how cities power themselves, including a transition to clean and renewable energy sources, air pollution would continue to kill huge numbers of people even after the pandemic recedes.</p>.<p>"The pandemic ends with the vaccination of the population or with herd immunity through extensive infection of the population," they wrote.</p>.<p>"However, there are no vaccines against poor air quality and climate change. The remedy is to mitigate emissions."</p>
<p>Long-term exposure to air pollution may be linked to 15 per cent of Covid-19 deaths globally, according to research published Tuesday that highlights the health risks posed by greenhouse gas emissions.</p>.<p>Previous research has shown how air pollution from exhaust fumes and factories takes two years off the life expectancy of every man, woman and child on Earth.</p>.<p>Now experts in Germany and Cyprus say they have estimated the proportion of deaths from coronavirus that can be blamed of the exacerbating effects of air pollution.</p>.<p>Their study, published in the journal <em>Cardiovascular Research</em>, drew on health and disease data from the US and China relating to air pollution, Covid-19 and SARS -- a serious lung disease similar to Covid.</p>.<p><strong><a href="https://www.deccanherald.com/tag/coronavirus">For latest updates on Coronavirus outbreak, click here</a></strong></p>.<p>They combined this with satellite data of global exposure to particulate matter -- microscopic particles -- as well as ground-based pollution monitoring networks, to calculate to what extent air pollution can be blamed for Covid-19 deaths.</p>.<p>In East Asia, which has some of the highest levels of harmful pollution on the planet, the authors found that 27 per cent of Covid-19 deaths could be attributed to the health effects of poor air quality.</p>.<p>In Europe, the proportion was 19 per cent, compared with 17 per cent in North America.</p>.<p>"If both long-term exposure to air pollution and infection with the Covid-19 virus come together then we have an adverse effect on health, particularly with respect to the heart and blood vessels," said paper co-author Thomas Munzel.</p>.<p>He said that air pollution made known Covid-19 risk factors such as lung and heart problems more likely.</p>.<p>Specifically, the team noted that particulate matter appeared to increase the activity of a receptor on lung cell surfaces, ACE-2, which is known to be involved in the way Covid-19 infects patients.</p>.<p>"So we have a double hit: air pollution damages the lungs and increases the activity of ACE-2, which in turn leads to enhanced uptake of the virus," said Munzel, a professor at the University Medical Center of the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz.</p>.<p>The authors stressed that attributing Covid-19 deaths to air pollution did not mean that pollution itself was killing people with Covid -- though they didn't rule out such a cause-effect linkage.</p>.<p>Jos Lelieveld, of the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry, told AFP that the research suggested "the pollution particles are a co-factor in aggravating the disease".</p>.<p>He said their estimates suggested that more than 6,100 Covid deaths in Britain could be attributed to air pollution. In the US that figure is around 40,000.</p>.<p>The authors said that without a fundamental change in how cities power themselves, including a transition to clean and renewable energy sources, air pollution would continue to kill huge numbers of people even after the pandemic recedes.</p>.<p>"The pandemic ends with the vaccination of the population or with herd immunity through extensive infection of the population," they wrote.</p>.<p>"However, there are no vaccines against poor air quality and climate change. The remedy is to mitigate emissions."</p>