Pollution threat to Hong Kong cannot be ignored
- Easing of social-distancing measures has brought an increase in air pollution, which led to 1,329 premature deaths in Hong Kong last year
The relaxation of social-distancing measures that have protected us from Covid-19 can be expected to expose our health to an increase in another hazard – air pollution.
This was the experience last year, with the relaxation of restrictions as the pandemic stabilised being blamed for more road traffic and other polluting activity before the Omicron variant forced their reimposition.
As a result, non-governmental organisation Clean Air Network found that average concentrations of major air pollutants all increased last year from 2020 levels by 3 to 12 per cent, though they were still below the amounts recorded in 2019 before the pandemic began.
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To put it into perspective, that was an unavoidable blot on an otherwise much improved air-quality record. Environmental Protection Department data last year shows falls in average concentrations of pollutants in the ambient air by 32 per cent to 62 per cent from 2011. In the same period, average roadside readings fell by 43 per cent to 58 per cent.
A reminder of the health implications is to be found in the latest report of The Lancet Commission on pollution and health that pollution is responsible for about 9 million deaths a year, or one in six worldwide – the same as in 2015.
Fewer deaths attributable to pollution associated with extreme poverty were offset by more due to ambient air pollution and toxic chemical pollution (ie, lead).
Research links air pollution to an increase in cardiovascular diseases, such as heart attacks and strokes, as well as chronic conditions like asthma. The Lancet Commission report notes that pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss are closely linked.
Pollution causing more deaths than Covid-19, ‘immediate action needed’
In Hong Kong, heightened air pollution last year resulted in 1,329 premature deaths, up by 5 per cent from 2020, according to the Clean Air Network.
The World Health Organization lowered its recommended air pollution levels in 2021, and the city has tightened its air-quality objectives from this year, though its limits are still more relaxed than those of the global body.
Over time, air pollution could still contribute to more ill health and death than the coronavirus.
The authorities should aim at tightening the objectives to align with those of the health organisation.
