NO(2) levels after the COVID-19 lockdown in Ecuador: A trade-off between environment and human health

The negative effects on human health, along with the fatalities caused by the new coronavirus, have led governments worldwide to take strict measures. However, a reduction in air pollution has been found in many regions on a global scale. This study is focused on how the COVID-19 pandemic is impacting on the air quality in Ecuador, one of the most alarming cases of COVID-19 contagion in Latin America, occupying the first place as regards deaths per capita. The spatio-temporal variations in NO(2) concentrations in 12 highly populated cities were evaluated by comparing the NO(2) tropospheric concentrations before (2019) and after (2020) the COVID-19 lockdown. The atmospheric data was collected from the TROPOMI on the Sentinel-5P satellite of the European Space Agency. A reduction in NO(2) concentrations (−13%) was observed as a consequence of the COVID-19 lockdown in Ecuador. However, this reduction occurred to the greatest extent in the cases of Guayaquil (−23.4%) and Quito (−22.4%), the two most highly populated cities. Linking NO(2) levels to confirmed cases/deaths of COVID-19, a strong correlation between air NO(2) concentrations and the cases/mortality caused by coronavirus (r = 0.91; p<0.001) was observed. This work highlights the crucial role played by air quality as regards human health.