INDIA'S CORONAVIRUS OUTBREAK WORSENS

As New Delhi enters the fall pollution season, doctors and scientists are warning that deteriorating air quality may make the city’s COVID-19 problems even worse, the New York Times reported.

Both assault the respiratory system and are peaking at the same time. “We’re just sitting ducks,” an environmental activist said.

India’s coronavirus outbreak continues to spread and is on track to outpace that of the United States, which has the world’s biggest caseload.

The spring lockdown gave the country its clearest skies in years, but the pollution is back. In the fall, air temperatures and wind speeds drop, condensing pollutants over India’s cities, especially in the north. And farmers in rural areas burn stalks and refuse from their crops, sending up huge clouds of smoke that drift for miles.

The Delhi government is doing more this year to fight pollution, including setting up a war room to track pollution hot spots and turning to anti-smog guns that blast mist into the air to knock down the dust.