Delhi’s pollution and a rise in COVID-19 infections

The Take is examining the stark differences in how the air pollution crisis is affecting Delhi’s rich and poor.

People visit the Red Fort on a smoggy morning in the old quarters of Delhi, India, November 10, 2020 [File: Danish Siddiqui/Reuters]

4 Dec 2020

Scientists and doctors agree – pollution is killing Indians. In 2017, more than one million people in India died from pollution-related illnesses. But the Indian government denies any correlation. This year, exposure to pollution has also been linked to a higher number of COVID-19 cases and deaths related to the virus.

Amid a public health emergency, we are revisiting an episode we first aired in February to examine the stark differences in how the air pollution crisis is affecting Delhi’s rich and poor.