Monitoring of European cities, many of which are in lockdown over the pandemic, by the European Environment Agency also reveals large decreases in air pollution, particularly nitrogen dioxide. The reduction in nitrogen dioxide in UK and European cities is likely to be caused by lower levels of traffic, experts said. "From our analysis, pollution levels are clearly lower than the average of the previous five years. Air pollution causes an estimated 40,000 early deaths in the UK each year. Hans Bruyninckx, EEA executive director, said: "The EEA's data shows an accurate picture of the drop in air pollution, especially due to reduced traffic in cities.

Source: Daily Mirror April 01, 2020 07:29 UTC