Sheesh
Sheesh
Sheesh
ISSN 2320-1355
Volume9, Number 5, 2020, pp. 7352-7363
Website: www.mutagens.co.in
DOI: www.mutagens.co.in/jgb/vol.09/05/090506.pdf
Review Paper
IMPACT OF COVID-19 ON ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
Ashok Kumar Verma1 and Sadguru Prakash2
1Department of Zoology,
Govt. (P.G.) College, Saidabad, Prayagraj (U.P.), India.
2Department of Zoology,
Abstract
Environmental change is one of the biggest challenges of the 21st century.
In spite of all their efforts to restore the nature during the last few
decades, humans could only move a few steps forward, not up to the
commendable extent. But during the last few months, consequences of
the COVID-19 pandemic have successfully recovered the environment to
a large extent that should definitely set positive impact on global climate
change. It of course changes the daily behavior of humans and the
surrounding ecological system. The present review article deals with the
multiple positive effects of lockdown on environment and society
including biodiversity.
Keywords: Coronavirus; Environment; Family; Education; Economy.
INTRODUCTION
In humans, several corona viruses are known to cause respiratory infections ranging
from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory
Syndrome (MERS) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). In December 2019,
a new infectious respiratory disease emerged in Wuhan, Hubei province, China and was
named by the World Health Organization as COVID-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). It is
caused by recently discovered a class of corona virus, known as SARS-CoV-2 (severe
acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2). It is basically a single stranded RNA virus.
The SARS-CoV-2 viral particles are spherical and have mushroom shaped protein called
spikes protruding from their surface, giving the particle a crown like appearance. The
spikes bind to the human cells and allowing virus to gain entry. The spike protein of
novel corona virus shares 98% sequence identity with the spike protein of bat
coronavirus. The researchers found that spike protein of SARS-CoV-2 binds to the
cellular receptor called angiotensin converting enzyme 2, which is entry point into
human cells. It has 10 to 20-fold higher binding affinity than SARS. The higher binding
affinity causes higher human to human transmission [1].
Author(s) agree that this article remains permanently open access under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 International License
Electronic copy available at: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3644567
Journal of Global Biosciences Vol. 9(5), 2020 pp. 7352-7363
ISSN 2320-1355
It has given a severe impact on global and national economies irrespective of the
level of virus impact on the people of individual nations. The novel corona virus has no
border, no religion and spread beyond cast and creed. It is highly contagious in nature
and easily unpredictable. World was never prepared for this kind of pandemic, where
we are in a race of developing a vaccine against its spread [2].
The new COVID-19 seemed very contagious and has quickly spread globally. As
on April 03, 2020, there have been a minimum of 52,869 deaths and quite 10,10,066
confirmed cases of this coronavirus pandemic. On May 18, 2020, confirmed cases
increased to 46,79,511 with deaths of 3,15,005. These numbers are changing rapidly.
The novel coronavirus has four stages of transmission namely stage-1 (imported cases),
stage-2 (local transmission), stage-3 (community transmission) and stage-4
(transmission out of control). Speaking about a spread of disease among humans, the
term transmission refers to the transmission of microorganisms from one infected
individual to another uninfected person, either through direct contact, through droplets,
or through indirect contact such as surface contamination. The detailed up-to-date
information about COVID- 19, is available in the WHO website at https://www.who.int/
emergencies/diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019. [3].
The time between catching the virus and beginning of symptoms of the disease is
known as incubation period. For COVID-19, it ranges from 1-14 days but most
commonly around five days. The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are fever,
tiredness, and dry cough. Some patients may have aches and pains, nasal congestion,
runny nose, sore throat or diarrhea. These symptoms are usually mild and begin
gradually. Some people become infected but don’t develop any symptoms and don't feel
unwell. Most people (about 70 %) recover from the disease without needing special
treatment. Around 1 out of every 6 people who get COVID-19 becomes seriously ill and
develops difficulty in breathing. Older people and those with underlying medical
problems like high blood pressure, heart problems or diabetes, are more likely to
develop serious illness.
COVID-19 is a zoonotic disease with intermediate host. Although the
intermediate source of origin and transfer to humans is not clearly known. Intermediate
host for SARS-CoV is palm civet and camel while the possible intermediate host for
SARS-CoV-2 is pangolin or snakes. The reserve host for all the three is bat. Bat carries so
many viruses and around 200 corona viruses without getting sick. So the primary mode
of transmission is from bats to intermediate host to humans. The transmission of
COVID-19 can be direct in the form of droplets produced during sneezing, coughing,
speaking and accidently inhaling the droplets in a closed proximity of an infected
person. Droplets are water holding entities of diameter more than 5µm and these can be
caught by a healthy person within a certain range of 1 m approximately. The indirect
transmission is when virus is deposited on a dead surface like door bells, lift buttons,
stairs, vegetables, fruits etc. which may come in contact with rest healthy persons
frequently. From here the virus reaches to eyes, nose and mouth and finally leads to a
new corona patient. Even fecal matter of infected person is found to be the transmitting
source hence it can spread through fecal-oral transmission [2]. Studies showed that
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virus takes entry to the respiratory mucosa by angiotensin receptor 2 (ACE2) present in
lower respiratory tract in abundance [4] mainly in type-2 alveolar cells. The same
receptor is used by SARS-CoV [5].
WHO has published guidance on adjusting public health and social measures for
the next phase of the COVID-19 responses. Some governments have suggested that the
detection of antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, could serve
as the basis for an 'immunity passport' or 'risk-free certificate' that would enable
individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against re-
infection. There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-
19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection. WHO continues to review
the evidence on antibody responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection.Most of these studies show
that people who have recovered from infection have antibodies against virus. However,
some of these people have very low level of neutralizing antibodies in their blood,
suggesting that cellular immunity may also be critical for recovery. At this point in the
pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated
immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an immunity passport or risk-free certificate.
People who assume that they are immune to a second infection because they have
received a positive test result may ignore public health advice. The use of such
certificates may therefore increase the risks of continued transmission.
Till now there is no report of any clinically approved antiviral drugs or vaccines
that are effective against COVID-19. It has rapidly spread around the world, posing
enormous health, economic, environmental and social challenges to the entire human
population. The coronavirus outbreak is severely disrupting the global economy. Almost
all the nations are struggling to slow down the transmission of the disease by testing
and treating the patients, quarantining suspected persons through contact tracing,
restricting large gatherings, maintaining complete or partial lock down etc. [6].
The COVID-19 spread around the world and severely affected the many sectors
and related economies. This review article describes the impact of COVID-19 on
environment and society including economics and the possible ways in which the
disease can be controlled has also been discussed therein.
COVID-19 and Global Warming
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But, due to the unusual outbreak of COVID-19, almost every big and small cities
and villages in the affected countries is under partial or total lockdown for a long period
of time ranging from a few weeks up to a few months. All local and central
administrations instructed to close the academic institutions and imposed a ban on free
movement of their citizens outside their home and non-essential businesses in order to
avoid community transmission. The various religious, cultural, social, scientific, sport,
and political mass gathering events like Hajj, Olympics etc. are cancelled. Various
industries are not functioning and all types of travels like airplanes, rails, buses and
private vehicles are restricted or cancelled.
With substantially less vehicular movement, air quality has improved by leaps
and bounds. Numerous sources have covered how air quality indices of the globe’s
largest metropolitan areas have improved extensively since strict coronavirus
lockdowns were issued. Even NASA satellites from outer-space show the significant
reductions in air pollutants, which support Eco Watch's observation that the novel
coronavirus pandemic has delivered the silver lining of decreased air pollution.
The Guardian added, “In China, the world’s biggest source of carbon, emissions
were down about 18% between early February and mid-March, a cut of 250m tones,
equivalent to more than half the UK’s annual output. Europe is forecast to see a
reduction of around 390 m tones. Significant falls can also be expected in the US, where
passenger vehicle traffic are the major source of CO2, has fallen by nearly 40%.
China has witnessed a drastic reduction in emission of NOx, CO2 and various
hydrocarbons during the coronavirus lockdown (2020) as compared to the values last
year (2019). The areas of Eastern and Central China showed a significant reduction (10-
30%) in NO2 levels [8]. According to [9], there is significant reduction in the air
pollution in major cities of United State of America due to lockdown. The lockdown is a
highly sustainable approach to reduce the noise and injection of tropospheric and
stratospheric pollutants.
That means the coronavirus crisis is so far “trigger the largest ever annual fall in
CO2 emissions in 2020, more than during any previous economic crisis or period of
war.” While this is encouraging news, experts say it still may not be adequate for
meeting Paris Agreement goals to keep global warming from rising above 1.5 0C .
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are compelling the academicians, policy makers and other stakeholders to introspect
their visions and actions.
Today, the World is a 'global village' due to the use of Information and
Communication Technology and we are living there and deriving all the benefits from
Nature. When we are deriving the benefits, we must have to bear some responsibilities.
We have to develop environment centric approach to utilize the natural resources in
such a manner so that we can achieve the inclusive and sustainable development with
coexistence of all other species of organisms of the globe. The lockdown therefore
provided us an opportunity to shift our ideology from anthropocentric or human centric
worldview to eco-centric worldview.
The former worldview puts the human beings in the centre giving them the
highest status, considers man to be the most capable for managing the planet earth,
realizes that man is the planet's most important species and is the in-charge of the rest
of nature. It emphasizes that earth has unlimited resources for humans only and a
healthy environment depends upon a healthy economy. The later worldview states that
the earth resources are limited and belong to all the species that exist in nature. Though
humans have right to draw their requirements from the environment but certainly not
the extent that degrades the environment and harms other species and living beings.
This eco-centric worldview is therefore based on earth-wisdom and urges us to live on
this earth as a part of it, like any other creature of nature and live sustainably. It realizes
that healthy economy depends upon a healthy environment (healthy environment does
not depend upon a healthy economy).
Due to lockdown, a large number of birds including vultures are clearly started
to appear. Insect pollinators have appeared in abundance on crops and other plants. All
these are good indication for ecological balance and biodiversity. Almost total lockdown
due to COVID-19 outbreak has minimized the anthropogenic activities including
overexploitation of natural resources. The major human population is bound to live in
their homes, automatically prevented to cause various types of pollution. The
surrounding environment is reflecting clean and green. We all are observing a clean
environment where almost all animals including birds etc. have stated to flourish.
Almost all humans are feeling healthy without any major clinical problems. Authors
observed that during present lockdown period, the water of Rapti, Saryu, Ganga and
Yamuna rivers in cities also became clear and transparent due less deposition of
domestic and industrial effluents. During lockdown it was not possible to estimate the
water quality parameters but the transparent condition of water of these holy rivers
clearly indicate that pollution level definitely reduced to a great extent. These
reductions in pollution level help in flourishing the aquatic organisms including fishes.
COVID-19 and Society
The COVID-19 outbreak affects all segments of the population and is particularly
detrimental to members of those social groups in the most vulnerable situations,
continues to affect populations, including people living in poverty situations. For
example, homeless people, because they may be unable to safely shelter in place, are
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highly exposed to the danger of the virus. The detailed up-to-date information about
COVID- 19, is available in the WHO website at https://www.who.int/emergencies/
diseases/novel-coronavirus-2019 [19].
Being forced stay home and work from home has brought the family members
together. They are forced to talk, eat and play together every day, which was not
possible for most of the families due to work and various responsibilities. In some
instances, when one was scheduled to go early and come back during odd hours when
children were sleeping, family life was different. It was heard sometimes that some of
the children could meet their fathers weekly or fortnightly due to fathers' over business.
Hence, the lockdown seems good for family life and social engineering.
During work from home, when people are at home every time, they take
complete sleep, a basic need for good health and peaceful working. It is believed that a
good sleep enhances immunity. They save the time of travel to office to and fro that
provides extra hours of working which means more efficiency and productivity.
Secondly, people save fuel and help in controlling the air pollution. Thirdly, there is no
stress of travelling which means more efficiency.
Many countries have reported an increase in domestic violence and intimate
partner violence attributed to lockdowns amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Financial
insecurity, stress, and uncertainty have lead to increased aggression at home, with
abusers able to control large amounts of their victims' daily life.
COVID-19 and Education
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More than one billion youth are now no longer physically in school after the
closure of schools and universities across many jurisdictions. The lockdown has
interrupted the regular academic session. Primary and secondary school students are
most affected because most of them are cut off from the academic interactions with
their teachers. The disruption in education and learning could have medium and long-
term consequences on the quality of education, though the efforts made by teachers,
school administrations, local and national governments to cope with the unprecedented
circumstances e-learning. In response to school closures, UNESCO recommended the
use of distance learning programmes and open educational applications and platforms
that schools and teachers can use to reach learners remotely and limit the disruption of
education.
Several universities have asked their faculties to keep giving online classes and
supplying reading material through emails and other media. In a nutshell, for more
mature students, the traditional class room education is turned into e-class room
education system. This is a global turning point for adopting this new 'e-education
system and `Work from Home’ culture which is being endorsed by institutions and
individuals.
The e-education will have impact on research and its procedures. During e-
education, one cannot accumulate practical experience of real laboratory work like
handling of apparatus and instruments etc. Hence, the degree holder of science by e-
education will be useful only for teaching, online demonstrations, model creation, online
material designing and modeling etc. Most colleges and universities will be deprived of
good students and funds, which may result in abandoned physical campuses. As a result,
the number of excellent research centers may be reduced, leading to reduced quality
and quantity of formal research. However, the publications of traditional researchers
will be less effective than the ideas given by a layman through online YouTube videos
and Tik Tok platforms. Funding patterns for research as well as the priorities for future
research areas will be affected and changed.
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globally equivalent to 195 million full-time workers in 2nd Quarter of 2020. In Asia and
the Pacific will notice 7.2% i.e. (125 million full-time workers). ILO estimates that about
13 million people become unemployment all over the world [21].
COVID-19 will have a huge impact on labour market outcomes. The current
situation is like hell for many of us because the income is totally stopped and some of
the companies have removed their employees from job so that they don’t have to pay
for the duration of COVID-19 in the country. There are more than 30 lakh students
graduated and around 40 lakh students post-graduated in India every year, and in
present situation it is more difficult to ensure that each and every student will get
employed. More than 4 out of 5 people (81%) in the global workforce of 3.3 billion are
currently affected by full or partial workplace closures.
It reduces the full-time jobs. Salaries are not fixed. It is also likely to have impact
on workers as they have stop working just to care for themselves or their families.
COVID-19 already has shown its impact on manufacturing sector because of temporary
factory closures.
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health concerns with the potential of distribution of these infectious diseases. In order
to reduce the general risk of transmission of COVID-19, WHO has recommended some
precautionary measures such as avoiding close contact with people suffering from acute
respiratory illness, regular hand washing with soap and water or hand sanitizer
particularly after direct contact with sick people or their environment, maintaining
cough etiquette, and avoiding unprotected contact with farm or wild animals etc. The
people are strongly advised to avoid touching the face frequently and wash the hands
for 20 seconds under running water. Social distancing and isolation or quarantine is the
best way to prevent the infection.
Govt. of different countries postponed all types of religious, cultural, social,
scientific, sport, and political mass gathering events in different parts of the world.
Media and information technology are providing significant support to the society for
prevention and control of COVID-19 outbreak. So, restricting mass gathering could be
the primary preventive strategy for COVID-19. Almost all Governments are taking all
precautionary steps and also sanctions massive budgets for their countries.
Till date, there are no exact antiviral treatments or vaccines for COVID-19.
However, there are many ongoing clinical trials evaluating potential treatments
Therefore, it is an urgent necessity of time to develop a safe and stable COVID-19
vaccine. Anti-viral drugs like chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine have been found to
be effective against COVID-19 in laboratory studies and in-vivo studies [24]; [25]. A
recent study revealed that remdesivir and chloroquine were highly effective in the
control of 2019-nCoV in vitro [26 & 27]. Since SARS-CoV-2 is an RNA virus, any vaccines,
effective against other RNA viruses such as measles, polio, encephalitis B and influenza,
could be the most promising alternatives [28];[29]. So, research will continue to play an
important role to discover new drugs or vaccines to prevent and control the COVID-19
infections.
CONCLUSION
The corona has proved that although humans are a superpower and have
weapons that are capable to destroy the whole world but still if humans are creating
mess with nature then even now nature is itself powerful to destroy humans with this
small virus which is having very common symptoms like cold and cough.
The best way to prevent and hamper transmission is to protect yourself and
others from infection by frequent washing of hands or using an alcohol based- rub
frequently, not touching the face and follow social distancing norms. Use of mask is
beneficial if anyone has to go out of home due to an urgent work. During the lockdown,
staying at home and working from home should be followed.
Yoga is the best methods for good health which rejuvenates our body in terms of
enhancing our immunity system, concentration of mind and confidence levels. Spiritual
development is essential for immunity, humanity and positive personality development.
There are a number of online yoga classes given by the experts, which is proving the
utilization of lockdown time fruitfully. No need to worry about the future because time
heals everything. If there are negative impacts, we have various positive things to learn
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from this. The COVID-19 has proved that Nature has provided us with all the resources
for leading a beautiful life and she nourishes us like a mother, humans should respect
and nurture her. Indiscriminate development and overexploitation of natural resources
should be minimized at the level of sustainability.
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