As the country is fighting COVID-19 outbreak with resolve through lockdown and other measures, data from COVID-19 Tracker of Energy Policy Institute at University of Chicago (EPIC) suggests that urban particulate pollution in the country has dropped further to about -16.49 percent as compared to -6.8 percent on April 13. Recently, EPIC had launched a portal with a dynamic tracker showing the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on electricity consumption and particulate pollution in India, China, and the United States among other nations in the European Union.

As per the data, urban particulate emissions in India had dropped by -16.49 percent as of April 27. Earlier, on April 3, urban particulate emissions were -1.01 percent. Also, power consumption in India also fell by -18.72 percent as on April 27. On April 3, it was at -18.37 percent. During this period, the number of COVID-19 cases and deaths saw a rise. The interactive graph available on EPIC’s website, lets the user get a sense of how both these curves — of rise in cases and dip in consumption of electricity — have progressed side by side. The website also provides a country-wise analysis of how India fares in these aspects compared to the US, China, and a few European nations….