Twitter users have been sharing a photo from May showing Mount Everest visible from the Kathmandu Valley in Nepal for the first time in years due to low air pollution given the recent circumstances due to the global COVID-19 pandemic.
The photo, taken on May 10, was first shared on Twitter by Nepali avid photographer Abhushan Gautam who then published the photo on the Nepali Times newspaper.
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“The reduction of vehicular emission due to the COVID-19 lockdown has cleaned the air over Nepal and northern India. So much so that the Himalaya is visible from Chandigarh, Kangchenjunga is visible from Siliguri. And for the first time in many years, Mt Everest can be seen again from Kathmandu Valley even though it is 200 km away,” Gautam said in an article published on the Nepali Times after his photograph went viral.
Nepal said it will reopen its Himalayan mountains including Mount Everest to climbers for the autumn season, officials said last month, to boost the tourism-dependent economy despite rising coronavirus infections.
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Carbon dioxide emissions across the world could fall by the largest amount since World War II this year as the coronavirus outbreak brought economies to a virtual standstill earlier this year, according to the chair of a network of scientists providing benchmark emissions data.
In India, people said they could breathe easier during the biggest lockdown in the world kept cars off the roads and closed factories, leading to improved air quality in the world’s most polluted capital city, New Delhi. Landmarks such as the Presidential Palace and India Gate could be seen against blue skies on April 6.
Last year, India accounted for around half of the world’s 50 most polluted cities, according to Swiss firm IQAir, with emissions caused partly by industry, vehicle exhaust and coal-fired plants.
Read more:
Before and after coronavirus: As humans lockdown, the planet air clears
Coronavirus: UAE reports cleaner air with 30 pct reduction in nitrogen dioxide
Coronavirus quarantine cleans China’s air
(With inputs from Reuters)
