Potential spreading risks of Covid-19 and chemical-based disinfection challenges to the environment, ecosystem and human health

Hafeez Ur Rahim* and Tariq Rahim

Because of the current situation regarding the Covid-19 pandemic in more than 200 countries and territories, an early discussion is proposed on the use of chlorine-based disinfectants as an important precautionary measure to disinfect the surfaces and kill the Covid-19. However, the excessive use of chlorine-based disinfectants will surely make the highest residual concentrations in the water, soil, and other environmental components by various means such as surface runoff and leaching, etc. Crossing the permissible limits in water and soil system and in other environmental components will pose risks to human health in the form of skin, eyes, cancer, and other associated diseases. Similarly, it may also decline the agricultural production by excessive salt (Cl-) accumulations (salinization) and will also threaten the aquatic and wild ecosystems. Therein, the ecological integrity assessments regarding the use of chlorine-based disinfectants in the current situation are very much important. Meanwhile, this will open a new area of interest for the researcher and would be of great importance to investigate its critical levels in the environmental components and its potentially toxic effects. 

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Published on: Aug 4, 2020 Pages: 55-57

Full Text PDF Full Text HTML DOI: 10.17352/aest.000027
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