When I am writing this on 26th of April 2.9 million people worldwide are under the tight grab of Covid-19 with the death toll rising to 204K. This time is one of the horrendous moments in human history. The world economy is crippling down with almost worldwide lockdown going on and there’s no clue what’s in the packet for a human generation as a whole. But amidst all these negativity, humdrum and gloom and doom one thing that giving us some breath of relief is the recovering of Mother Nature. It seems like that Mother Earth is rejuvenating herself once again. As motorways cleared and factories closed, dirty brown pollution belts shrunk over cities and industrial centres in country after country within days of lockdown resulting in the drop of the pollution level. Smog has given way to blue skies, marine life is seeing increased activity, pollution levels have dropped, and animals, as well as birds, are moving about on their own accord.

The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that about 3 million people die each year from ailments caused by air pollution. NO2 is one of the hazardous air pollutants but due to lockdown the level of NO2 has fallen

Drastically. Measurements from the European Space Agency’s Sentinel-5P satellite show that during late January and early February 2020, levels of nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) over cities and industrial areas in Asia and Europe were lower than in the same period in 2019, by as much as 40%. Two weeks after the nationwide lockdown was announced on March 23 in the UK, NO₂ pollution in some cities fell by as much as 60% compared to the same period in 2019.

NASA revealed that NO₂ pollution over New York and other major metropolitan areas in the north-eastern USA was 30% lower in March 2020, compared to the monthly average from 2015 to 2019. Wuhan had a hazardous air-pollution level, which has now surprisingly come down by 21.5 per cent

According to data revealed by China’s Ministry of Ecology and Environment.

Like all the other major countries India too got in a nationwide lockdown from March, 24 to stop the spread of the coronavirus – the largest lockdown of its kind attempted anywhere and has led to widespread chaos and suffering,

Especially among the country’s 300 million poor. With all the factories not working and the roads being deserted from vehicles the level of NO2 falls drastically. In the capital, New Delhi, government data shows the average concentration of PM 2.5 plunged by 71% in the space of a week — falling from 91 micrograms per cubic meter on March 20, to 26 on March 27, after the

lockdown began. The World Health Organization considers anything above 25 to be unsafe. The data from the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), part of India’s Environment Ministry, was collated by the Centre for Research on Energy and Clean Air (CREA). Nitrogen dioxide went from 52 per cubic meter to 15 in the same period — also a 71% fall. Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata and Bangalore have also recorded a fall in these air pollutants. Dr Shashi Tharoor, a politician and author who has been vocal on environmental issues, said he hoped that it was a wake-up call. “The blissful sight of blue skies and the joy of breathing clean air provides just the contrast to illustrate what we are doing to ourselves the rest of the time,” said Tharoor. “Today the typical Delhi AQI hovers around 30 and one blissful afternoons, after a spurt of rain, it dropped to 7.”

Not only the air quality has improved all around the world, but some other aspects of nature are also improving in and around like;

• The Talawe Wetland, Mumbai this year has seen thousands of migratory Flamingos.
• Scientists have claimed that the water quality of river Ganga has improved significantly and is even fit for drinking.
• In the absence of tourists, lions have been seen sleeping on a road passing through the Kruger National Park in South Africa.
• Peacocks can be seen here and there in the streets of Mumbai.
• World Mountain Goats have been seen roaming in the streets of the small town of Llandudno, Wales.
• Sambhar deer has been seen strolling through the streets of Haridwar.
• Los Angeles known for its notorious smog has witnessed some of its cleanest air days.
• Yamuna, Delhi and Vrishabhavathi River, Bangaluru famous for its frothing has seen a sharp drop.
• The endangered Olive Ridley turtles in Odisha’s Rushikulya returned to dig nests and laid over 7.9 lakh eggs for the first time in years.
• After almost 30 years South Asian River Dolphins have returned to the ghats of Kolkata.
• A Nilgai was spotted walking leisurely on the busiest road of Noida Sector-18.
• In Kerala’s Kozhikode, a Malabar civet, which is a critically endangered animal, was spotted walking on the road.

•  The canals of Venice have got clean water after many years and recently Jellyfish has been seen swimming through the water.
• The most important good news is that the scientists have confirmed that 1 million square kilometres wide hole in the ozone layer over the Arctic has finally healed.

But there’s another side to the coin. With an increase of several Covid-19 patients, the health workers have to treat more and concerns regarding how to deal with increasing medical waste that is piling up is going on. We know that the spread of the virus occurs through the body droplet of infected patients so the garbage contaminated with bodily fluids or other infectious material is a big hazard. Somehow this garbage increasingly ending up in streets and parks, and eventually, they will find their way to the sewage and ultimately to the marine affecting its living system. So according to expert advice, all the used PPE should be tossed into a securely tied garbage bag and then throw it in the trash and they should not be recycled.

With this little ray of hope in the doom, time is a happy call. Hopefully, the whole world will laugh its brightest smiles and will try to preserve the Mother Nature too. The emerge of humanity from this horror into a healthier, cleaner world will depend not on the short-term impact of the virus, but on the long-term political decisions made about what follows.