Advantages and Disadvantages of COVID -19 on The Environment.

COVID-19 virus or coronavirus which took a toll on human lives, the economy, health and
lifestyle of us all was not a fly by but a thing to stay! This disease can be said to be a global
outbreak which disturbed the entire living and functioning of human lives, industries,
businesses and environment. The physical and mental world are both affected by the
disease. The government and a lot of medical institutions, individuals and communities are
coming up with new and effective ways to deal with the virus. Now all these various
measures taken to control the spread of the dangerous virus have significant effects on the
environment therefore we can say that COVID-19 has impacted the environment in positive
and negative manners, by reviewing the scientific literature.

You know how there is a saying that there is beauty in disguise?

When the world is facing adverse impacts and the situations were made tough for all of us humans, there was something beautiful happening too.
The air quality index showed a positive change. In many parts of the world a notable
difference in the air quality was seen. With us all not being able to travel even for important
and daily work, the roads were left free of traffic for quite some time and a lot of vehicles
harmful gas emissions stopped. And in turn we were able to breath fresh air. We gave the
environment the required break to heal and recover itself and it did!

GHGs emission lessened, specially the tourist spots which were crowded and overused got
a break, the pressure was lifted off and some restoration of the ecological system took place.
Water pollution got into control as after she’s the river banks were empty, people valued the
resources they were being able to use, the industries and authorities who took care of
recycling water got enough time to complete the circle of looking into water recycling, water
cleansing. Lastly, another positive impact of the coronavirus is that since the world at large
was left untouched with people locked in their houses- noise pollution got in control. Social
places that used to cause so much noise pollution finally were seen empty.

Now talking about the negative consequences of COVID 19, a few industries were most
affected by it. Like the medical industry. There was an overflow of medical waste which led
to mismanaged waste disposal. Haphazard use and disposal of disinfectants, masks, gloves;
the burden of untreated waste continuously endangered the environment. The testing and
research on COVID also led to waste of chemicals at large. Due to the fear of getting the
virus home people who used to feed animals or animals who used to survive on waste bins
or left over food items faced scarcity of food. The uncertainty of when the situation would
change got everybody to buy ration in bulk which again disturbed the production and
distribution of food raw materials.
It is expected that the proper implementation of the proposed strategies might be helpful for
global environmental sustainability.
We need to plan ahead and plan proper to be able to minimise negative effects and step
back into the normal making sure we don’t disturb the positive consequences that we
noticed.