NEW DELHI: Doctors and environment experts believe that extreme levels of air pollution in the city during winter is likely to aggravate the Covid-19 situation and pose a serious challenge to the government.
Every winter, Delhi’s air quality dips to a dangerous low due to many reasons, including the city’s location, stubble burning and local sources of pollution.
A Supreme Court-mandated pollution control body last November had declared a public health emergency and ordered the closure of schools, and construction sites in the city after a toxic haze shrouded the area.
Dr Akshay Budhraja, Consultant in Department of Pulmonology, Aakash Healthcare Super Specialty Hospital, said air pollution poses a threat to people suffering from bronchitis and inflammation of lungs and such patients are more prone to Covid. The severity is more if they contract the virus, he said.
“It will be a challenging time for us too, as it takes 10-12 hours to conduct a radiological examination and an RT-PCR test to determine whether it’s a case of asthma flare-up or coronavirus,” he said.