Effect of Covid-19 Outbreak on Air Quality in Istanbul City Centre

Abstract

Air pollution, which is one of the biggest problems of humanity from past to present, has a permanent negative effect on life and human health. The most important role in the increasing concentration of air pollution along with human activities is in the use of fossil fuels. The exhaust fumes from vehicle use, industrial activities and the fumes that emerge as a result of the use of fuel for heating are caused by the burning of fossil fuels. These fumes are released into the atmosphere and play an important role in the increase of air pollution concentration. Recently, an outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, which has spread worldwide and has become a major threat to human health, has been able to make a major spread through contact. March May 16, 2020 – May 31, 2020, which is considered a pandemic process in Turkey, human activities were restricted and the public was urged to stay at home because Covid-19 virus posed a huge risk. With the reduction of human activities known as the biggest source of air pollution with the covid-19 pandemic process, changes in air pollution values were observed. The year 2020, which includes 2018, 2019 and the pandemic process, in order to observe this change and to compare it with other years, January 1 - March 15, considered the pre-pandemic process; March 16 - May 31, considered the pandemic process; June 1 - June 30, considered the normalization process. According to these 3 different period, the effect of human activities on air pollution has been studied.