Distribution and temporal variation of total volatile organic compounds concentrations associated with health risk in Punjab, India

In December 2019, a novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak occurred due to a human respiratory virus that originated in the city of Wuhan, China. During the COVID-19 lockdown, there was a significant improvement in the air quality across the world. We analyzed the data for BTEX over the three years (January to December 2019 to 2021) with pairwise comparison and trend analysis for pre-, during, and post-pandemic periods. This study demonstrates the substantial changes in the concentration of VOCs in the urban area (Punjab) due to the lockdown effects. The results indicate a substantial reduction in the mean TVOCs concentration for all the monitoring stations was found to be 8.89 ± 1.80, 5.59 ± 1.71, and 5.57 ± 1.43 μg/m3 for before, during, and post-pandemic, respectively. The level of TVOCs declined by −43% for all monitoring stations during the lockdown period compared to the previous years. A higher T/B ratio was found in Patiala (2.97 μg/m3) before the pandemic, which may indicate vehicle emission sources. The LCR values for benzene were found to be higher in children than in males and females, which indicated the possible risk. The LCR values for benzene exceeded the prescribed value by CPCB for children.