Climate Adaptation
World’s Dirtiest Air Gets Cleaner After India’s Lockdown
- Air quality satisfactory in nearly 90% of cities monitored
- Reprieve likely to be short-lived as economy revives
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As India went into the world’s biggest lockdown to combat the deadly coronavirus, trains, planes, automobiles and factories came to a halt. And the skies in some of the most polluted cities on the planet turned blue.
Cities across the country, which was home to 14 of the 20 most polluted cities in the world last year, are breathing some of the cleanest air after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced a three-week nationwide lockdown, starting March 25. On April 8, the country’s financial hub, Mumbai, was the only Indian city in the top 20 most polluted places, according to data from IQAir.