Indoor air quality improvement in COVID-19 pandemic: Review

doi:10.1016/j.scs.2021.102942

. 2021 Jul:70:102942.

doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.102942. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Indoor air quality improvement in COVID-19 pandemic: Review

Nehul Agarwal^{1

2}, Chandan Swaroop Meena^{1

3}, Binju P Raj^{1

2}, Lohit Saini^{1

2}, Ashok Kumar^{1

3}, N Gopalakrishnan^{1

3}, Anuj Kumar^{1

3}, Nagesh Babu Balam^{1

3}, Tabish Alam^{1

3}, Nishant Raj Kapoor^{1

3}, Vivek Aggarwal^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ CSIR-Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, 247667, India.
² School of Energy and Environment, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, 147001, India.
³ Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India.

PMID: 33889481
PMCID: PMC8049211
DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.102942

Indoor air quality improvement in COVID-19 pandemic: Review

Nehul Agarwal et al. Sustain Cities Soc. 2021 Jul.

. 2021 Jul:70:102942.

doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.102942. Epub 2021 Apr 15.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ CSIR-Central Building Research Institute (CBRI), Roorkee, 247667, India.
² School of Energy and Environment, Thapar Institute of Engineering and Technology, Patiala, 147001, India.
³ Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research (AcSIR), Ghaziabad, 201002, India.

PMID: 33889481
PMCID: PMC8049211
DOI: 10.1016/j.scs.2021.102942

Abstract

Introduction: The advent of COVID-19 has impinged millions of people. The increased concern of the virus spread in confined spaces due to meteorological factors has sequentially fostered the need to improve indoor air quality.

Objective: This paper aims to review control measures and preventive sustainable solutions for the future that can deliberately help in bringing down the impact of declined air quality and prevent future biological attacks from affecting the occupant's health.

Methodology: Anontology chart is constructed based on the set objectives and review of all the possible measures to improve the indoor air quality taking into account the affecting parameters has been done.

Observations: An integrated approach considering non-pharmaceutical and engineering control measures together for a healthy indoor environment should be contemplated rather than discretizing the available solutions. Maintaining social distance by reducing occupant density and implementing a modified ventilation system with advance filters for decontamination of viral load can help in sustaining healthy indoor air quality.

Conclusion: The review paper in the main, provides a brief overview of all the improvement techniques bearing in mind thermal comfort and safety of occupants and looks for a common ground for all the technologies based on literature survey and offers recommendation for a sustainable future.

Keywords: Air purifiers; Facemasks; HVAC; Indoor air quality; Lockdown; Social distancing; Ventilation.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

**Fig. 3**
Reduction in (a) NO₂ and (b) PM_2.5 concentration amid lockdown due to COVID-19.

See this image and copyright information in PMC

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References

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[1] Abboah-Offei M., Salifu Y., Adewale B., Bayuo J., Ofosu-Poku R., Opare-Lokko E.B.A. A rapid review of the use of face mask in preventing the spread of COVID-19. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances. 2021;3 doi: 10.1016/j.ijnsa.2020.100013. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[2] Abboah-Offei M., Salifu Y., Adewale B., Bayuo J., Ofosu-Poku R., Opare-Lokko E.B.A. A rapid review of the use of face mask in preventing the spread of COVID-19. International Journal of Nursing Studies Advances. 2021;3 doi: 10.1016/j.ijnsa.2020.100013. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[3] Ahlawat A., Wiedensohler A., Mishra S.K. An overview on the role of relative humidity in airborne transmission of sars-cov-2 in indoor environments. Aerosol and Air Quality Research. 2020 doi: 10.4209/aaqr.2020.06.0302. - DOI

[4] Ahlawat A., Wiedensohler A., Mishra S.K. An overview on the role of relative humidity in airborne transmission of sars-cov-2 in indoor environments. Aerosol and Air Quality Research. 2020 doi: 10.4209/aaqr.2020.06.0302. - DOI

[5] Ahmad M.D.F., Wahab S., Ali Ahmad F., Intakhab Alam M., Ather H., Siddiqua A., et al. A novel perspective approach to explore pros and cons of face mask in prevention the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens. Journal of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2020.12.014. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[6] Ahmad M.D.F., Wahab S., Ali Ahmad F., Intakhab Alam M., Ather H., Siddiqua A., et al. A novel perspective approach to explore pros and cons of face mask in prevention the spread of SARS-CoV-2 and other pathogens. Journal of the Saudi Pharmaceutical Society. 2020 doi: 10.1016/j.jsps.2020.12.014. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[7] Ahmed I., Ahmad M., Rodrigues J.J.P.C., Jeon G., Din S. A deep learning-based social distance monitoring framework for COVID-19. Sustainable Cities and Society. 2021;65 doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2020.102571. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[8] Ahmed I., Ahmad M., Rodrigues J.J.P.C., Jeon G., Din S. A deep learning-based social distance monitoring framework for COVID-19. Sustainable Cities and Society. 2021;65 doi: 10.1016/j.scs.2020.102571. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[9] Amoatey P., Omidvarborna H., Baawain M.S., Al-Mamun A. Impact of building ventilation systems and habitual indoor incense burning on SARS-CoV-2 virus transmissions in Middle Eastern countries. The Science of the Total Environment. 2020;733 doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139356. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

[10] Amoatey P., Omidvarborna H., Baawain M.S., Al-Mamun A. Impact of building ventilation systems and habitual indoor incense burning on SARS-CoV-2 virus transmissions in Middle Eastern countries. The Science of the Total Environment. 2020;733 doi: 10.1016/j.scitotenv.2020.139356. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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Indoor air quality improvement in COVID-19 pandemic: Review

Affiliations

Indoor air quality improvement in COVID-19 pandemic: Review

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Conflict of interest statement

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