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In Pictures: Coronavirus exposes the impact of air pollution

Studies have shown a correlation between high levels of pollution and high COVID-19 death rates.

A woman with her children crosses a busy street in the capital Kabul, February 4, 2020. Kabul has become one of the most polluted cities in the world. For several months per year, especially in the wi
A woman crosses a busy Kabul street with her children on February 4, 2020. The Afghan capital has become one of the most polluted cities in the world. For several months each year, the city is blanketed by a toxic haze of particulate matter - often invisible particles that threaten the health of its six million residents. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
By Siegfried Modola
Published On 22 Apr 2020

Two newly released studies – one focusing on Europe and the other on the US – have found an alarming correlation between levels of pollution and death rates from the coronavirus. 

In the European study, published in the journal Science of the Total Environment, coronavirus deaths across 66 administrative regions of Italy, France, Spain and Germany were analysed. It found that 78 percent of the deaths occurred in just five regions – those five regions were the most polluted. 

The other study, published by Harvard University, collected air quality data from 3,000 counties across the US and concluded that just a slight increase in PM2.5, atmospheric particulate matter with a diameter of less than 2.5 micrometres, which is about 3 percent of the diameter of a human hair, was associated with a 15 percent increase in COVID-19 deaths. 

The devastating impact of air pollution on our health seems clearer now than ever. And it is not just coronavirus. From mothers holding babies suffering from respiratory illnesses in hospitals in Afghanistan and Mongolia, to an Italian city covered in toxic dust and workers breathing in toxic fumes in Bangladesh and Kenya, we explore the impact of air pollution on human health. 

A mother gestures in grief as others stand close to the beds of their children suffering from lung infections at a government run hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, January 30, 2020. Doctor Farid Ahmad A
A mother grieves as others stand close to their children, who are suffering from lung infections at a government-run hospital in Kabul, Afghanistan, on January 30, 2020. Doctor Farid Ahmad Andishmond believes that the spike in cases of pneumonia and other lung infections among children is directly linked to the increase in pollution in the capital– and other cities in Afghanistan. "Many families in the city cannot afford electricity. Instead, they are left with no other choice but to burn whatever they can find to keep their homes warm," he explains as he does his rounds. "People burn plastic, rubber from the tyres of vehicles and cheap, unrefined coal. Whatever they can find and afford. These substances create toxic fumes that are harmful to the human body, especially in small children." [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
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A man feeds coal into the furnace of a steam boiler of a public bath house in Kabul, Afghanistan, February 1, 2020. With few homes in Afghanistan having their own private bathrooms, communal bath hous
A man feeds coal into a furnace of a steam boiler of a public bath house in Kabul, Afghanistan, on February 1, 2020. As many homes do not have their own private bathrooms, communal bath houses are popular and can be found throughout Kabul and other Afghan cities. Such bath houses can burn more than a tonne of coal per day, contributing to pollution levels. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
A woman wearing a face mask to protect herself from air pollution walks along railway tracks in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 29, 2019. The city has one of the worst quality of air on earth where dust, fum
A woman wearing a face mask to protect herself from air pollution walks along railway tracks in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 29, 2019. The city has some of the worst air quality levels in the world. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
Monora, 45, sorts out plastic sacks to burn for recycling in Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 27, 2019. She has five children and has been working in this job for the last ten years. She said she knows that s
Monora, 45, sorts out plastic bags to burn in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on April 27, 2019. She has five children and has been working in this job for the last 10 years. She knows she is exposed to harmful chemicals every day, but has no choice as this job allows her to take care of her family. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
A woman covers her face to protect herself from the pollution in a street of Dhaka, Bangladesh, April 29, 2019. A World Health Organisation study reveals that the major causes of child deaths globally
A woman covers her face to protect herself from pollution in Dhaka on April 29, 2019. A World Health Organisation (WHO) study reveals that globally the major causes of death among children are diseases and conditions that can be directly attributed to environmental issues, including air pollution, unsafe water, poor sanitation, inadequate hygiene and exposure to chemicals. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
The Arcelor Mittal steel works factory dominates the skyline from an old abandoned “masseria”, an Italian fortified farmhouse on a country estate, in Taranto, southern Italy, March 9, 2019. During day
The ArcelorMittal steel works dominates the skyline from an old abandoned 'masseria', an Italian fortified farmhouse on a country estate, in Taranto, southern Italy, on March 9, 2019. When the wind is strong, the local authorities close schools as the air fills with toxic dust from heavy metals, and children are told to stay indoors. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
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Gabriella, 8, behind the bar of a family friend in one of the neighbourhoods of Taranto, southern Italy, March 7, 2019. In 2015 Gabriella was diagnosed with leukemia, a cancer of the body''s blood-form
Gabriella, 8, behind the bar of a family friend in a neighbourhood of Taranto, southern Italy, on March 7, 2019. In 2015, Gabriella was diagnosed with leukemia. She managed to fight the disease and is now well, but her parents believe the steel works and resulting pollution may have caused her illness. "This is a dying city," explains Gabriella's father, Matteo. "We need to take action and close the factory for the sake of our future." [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
A worker drives through the city''s cemetery covered in reddish toxic metal dust, located adjacent to the polluting Arcelor Mittal steel works factory in Taranto, southern Italy, March 6, 2019. The fac
A toxic red metal dust covers a cemetery in Taranto, Italy on March 6, 2019. The cemetery is adjacent to a factory that is the largest producer of steel in Europe. Doctors believe that in Taranto there is a 54 percent higher chance of children being diagnosed with a tumour than in other parts of the country. "Every family you talk to in Taranto seems to be touched by a tragedy. People are dying and everyone is affected by this pollution problem," says a man in a bar in one of the neighbourhoods closest to the factory. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
Children play by their home in the slum of Korogocho close to the Dandora rubbish dumpsite in the capital Nairobi, Kenya, February 18, 2019. A UN Environment study done on the health risks to people l
Children play by their home in the slum of Korogocho close to the Dandora rubbish dumpsite in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, on February 18, 2019. A UN Environment Programme [UNEP] study on the health risks of living close to the dump concluded that half of the children in the area have blood lead levels that exceed internationally accepted levels. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
Young men play a football match in a pitch filled with smoke blowing from the Dandora dumpsite, in the slum of Korogocho in the capital Nairobi, Kenya, February 20, 2019. Nearly one million people liv
Young men play football on a pitch filled with smoke blowing from the Dandora dumpsite in the slum of Korogocho on February 20, 2019. Nearly one million people live near the dumpsite. A UNEP study found high levels of heavy metals in the soil of Dandora. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
A woman prepares breakfast for her family who share a small room in the slum of Korogocho close to the rubbish dump of Dandora in the capital Nairobi, Kenya, February 21, 2019. Fifteen people between
A woman prepares breakfast for her family who share a small room in the Korogocho slum on February 21, 2019. Fifteen people share this small space in a rented room. All of the adults work on the rubbish dump. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
Heavy pollution engulfs the capital Ulaanbaatar in the early hours of the morning when residents are waking up and burning larger quantities of coal in their homes, January 14, 2019. The surrounding h
Heavy pollution engulfs the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar in the early hours of January 14, 2019. The surrounding hills are crammed with new settlers: tens of thousands of gers and self-built houses. Almost all lack central heating, running water and plumbing. Residents burn vast quantities of raw coal to stay warm. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
A mother holds her baby boy who has been suffering from pneumonia in a paediatric unit in one of the city hospitals in the capital Ulaanbaatar, January 15, 2019. An ever-increasing number of children
A mother holds her son, who has been suffering from pneumonia, in a paediatric unit of a Ulaanbaatar hospital on January 15, 2019. An ever-increasing number of children are suffering from respiratory-related illnesses, stretching Mongolia's health infrastructure to its limit. Preliminary data suggests a 3.5-fold increase in foetal mortality rates between summer and winter, and a near-perfect correlation between stillbirths and air toxicity. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]
A man at work in an informal mine in Nalaikh, a poor urban district 36 km east of the capital Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, January 16, 2019. Miners crawl in the darkness for hundreds of meters through narro
A man at work in an informal mine in Nalaikh, a poor urban district 36km east of Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, on January 16, 2019. Miners crawl in the darkness for hundreds of metres through narrow, unsafe passages before reaching the coal that must be extracted to provide the capital with energy during the cold winter months. [Siegfried Modola/Al Jazeera]