European lockdowns could avert 11,300 air pollution deaths – report

FILE PHOTO: An aerial view shows the Victory Column (Siegessaeule) square, as the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues in Berlin, Germany, April 8, 2020. Picture taken with a drone, April 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hannibal Hanschke/File Photo

(Reuters) - Improved air quality in Europe due to lockdowns to combat the coronavirus pandemic has delivered health benefits equivalent to avoiding 11,300 premature deaths, according to a study published on Thursday.

Researchers extrapolated the likely impact on diseases caused or made worse by air pollution, which has fallen dramatically as hundreds of millions of people have stayed at home over the past month.