Epigrammatic study on the effect of lockdown amid Covid-19 pandemic on air quality of most polluted cities of Rajasthan (India)

Covid-19 pandemic has adversely affected all the aspects of life in adverse manner; however, a significant improvement has been observed in the air quality, due to restricted human activities amidst lockdown. Present study reports a comparison of air quality between the lockdown duration and before the lockdown duration in seven selected cities (Ajmer, Alwar, Bhiwadi, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Kota, and Udaipur) of Rajasthan (India). The period of analysis is 10 March 2020 to 20 March 2020 (before lockdown period) versus 25 March to 17 May 2020 (during lockdown period divided into three phases). In order to understand the variations in the level of pollutant accumulation amid the lockdown period, a trend analysis is performed for 24 h daily average data for five pollutants (PM(2.5), PM(10), NO(2), SO(2), and ozone). [Figure: see text]