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“Long COVID” and Its Impact on The Environment: Emerging Concerns and Perspectives

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Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented global health and economic crises. The emergence of long COVID-19 has raised concerns about the interplay between SARS-CoV-2 infections, climate change, and the environment. In this context, a concise analysis of the potential long-term effects of the COVID-19 epidemic along with the awareness aboutenvironmental issues are realized. While COVID-19 effects in the short-term have reduced environmental air pollutants and pressures, CO2 emissions are projected to increase as the economy recovers and growth rates return to pre-COVID-19 levels. This review discusses the systematic effects of both the short-term and long-term effects of the pandemic on the clean energy revolution and environmental issues. This article also discusses opportunities to achieve long-term environmental benefits and emphasizes the importance of future policies in promoting global environmental sustainability. Future directions for growth and recovery are presented to cope with long COVID-19 epidemic along with the critical findings focussing on various aspects: waste management, air quality improvement.

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Abbreviations

ADB:

Asian Development Bank

CDC:

Centres for Disease Control and Prevention

GBO:

Global Biodiversity Outlook

HCoV:

human coronaviruses

HIV:

human immunodeficiency virus

ILP:

International Labour Organization

SIDS:

islands developing states

LDC:

least developing countries

OSHA:

Occupational Safety and Health Administration

PPEs:

personal protective types of equipment

WHO:

World Health Organization

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Advanced Chemical Sciences, Shoolini University, Solan, Himachal Pradesh, 173212, India

    Parul Rana, Shilpa Patial, Vatika Soni, Pardeep Singh & Pankaj Raizada

  2. School of Management, Faculty of Management Sciences, Shoolini University, Solan, HP, 173229, India

    Atul Khosla

  3. Department of Organic Chemistry, Bioorganic Chemistry and Biotechnology, Silesian University of Technology, B. Krzywoustego 4, 44-100, Gliwice, Poland

    Sourbh Thakur

  4. Department of Chemistry and Environmental Science, New Jersey Institute of Technology, Newark, NJ, 07102, USA

    Chaudhery Mustansar Hussaisn

  5. School of Nursing, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Alagoas, 57072-900, Brazil

    Patricia de Carvalho Nagliate

  6. Laboratory of Processes (LAPRO), Center of Technology, Federal University of Alagoas, Maceió, Alagoas, 57072-900, Brazil

    Lucas Meili

  7. Department of Environmental Science and Engineering, School of Engineering and Sciences, SRM University-AP, Amaravati, Andhra Pradesh, 522240, India

    Rangabhashiyam Selvasembian

Authors
  1. Parul Rana
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Contributions

PRana—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, PRaizada—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, SP—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, VS—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, PS—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, AK—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, ST—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, CMH—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, PdeCN—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, LM—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing, Visualization, RS—Conceptualization, Methodology, Formal analysis, Investigation, Writing—Original Draft, Writing—Review and Editing.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Lucas Meili, Rangabhashiyam Selvasembian or Pankaj Raizada.

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Rana, P., Patial, S., Soni, V. et al. “Long COVID” and Its Impact on The Environment: Emerging Concerns and Perspectives. Environmental Management 73, 471–480 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-023-01914-w

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