A nationwide lockdown in India has shuttered factories and cleared streets of cars and trucks. The change is in the air.   Harish Tyagi/EPA, via Shutterstock

Across India, cities can suddenly breathe

Delhi has blue skies, and the city’s residents are stunned. The fresh air is one consequence of India’s coronavirus lockdown, the world’s biggest and one of the strictest. The measure has shuttered factories, grounded flights, evicted taxis and buses from the roads, and brought the economy to a screeching halt.

India has 14 of the 20 worst polluted cities in the world. But last week, Delhi recorded an Air Quality Index reading of 38, about as good as anywhere in the world. Residents are accustomed to readings in the range of 150 — on good days.

Environmentalists are using the fresh air revelation to challenge the widely held belief that India is doomed to suffer bad air because of its geography and climate.

“Clearly, this is not something that can’t be reversed,” said Jai Dhar Gupta, an environmental activists and entrepreneur. “We’ve just reversed it.”

Related: Seismologists worldwide have been able to register big drops in vibrations levels, showing that the roar of urban life has turned into a whisper. “It’s crazy,” said the scientist in Belgium who first noticed the phenomenon.