Satellite images are now showing the drastic fall in pollution over China after the coronavirus outbreak shut down most of the factories and the traveling of China.
NASA, a space agency based on the United States, said the change was related as part of the economic slowdown caused by efforts to contain the deadly virus.
Over 2870 people have died from the deadly coronavirus in China and have infected over 86,000 people all over the world.
The maps that were released by NASA shows the low levels of nitrogen dioxide. The toxic gas is released from vehicles, power plants, and factories.
The levels of nitrogen dioxide plummeted after mass quarantine.
Scientists have previously found that the coronavirus has wiped out at least a quarter of China’s emissions of damaging greenhouse gasses in just 2 weeks of February this year.
The government of China closed the industrial plants and asked a lot of people to stay home as the virus got out of control.
This led to a sharp drop in the burning of fossil fuels, which is a key cause of the climate crisis.
The burning of fossil fuels is the world’s largest greenhouse gas producer.
The maps that NASA shared compared pollution levels between the first three weeks of the year and 10 to 25 February.
The space agency’s scientists said the fall in pollution was first apparent near Wuhan, China.
Fei Liu, an air quality researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said, “This is the first time I have seen such a dramatic drop-off over such a wide area for a specific event.”