SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) coronavirus has been causing enormous suffering, death, and economic losses worldwide. There are rigorous containment measures on industries, non-essential business, transportation, and citizen mobility to check the spread. The lockdowns may have an advantageous impact on reducing the atmospheric pollutants. This study has analyzed the change in atmospheric pollutants, based on the Sentinel–5Ps and ground-station observed data during partial to complete lockdown period in 2020. Results revealed that the mean tropospheric NO₂ concentration substantially dropped in 2020 due to lockdown against the same period in 2019 by 18–40% over the major urban areas located in Europe (i.e. Madrid, Milan, Paris) and the USA (i.e. New York, Boston, and Springfield). Conversely, urban areas with partial to no lockdown measures (i.e. Warsaw, Pierre, Bismarck, and Lincoln) exhibited a relatively lower dropdown in mean NO₂ concentration (3 to 7.5%). The role of meteorological variability was found to be negligible. Nevertheless, the reduced levels of atmospheric pollutants were primarily attributed to the shutdown of vehicles, power plants, and industrial emissions. Improvement in air quality during COVID-19 may be temporary, but regulatory bodies should learn to reduce air pollution on a long-term basis concerning the trade-offs between the environment, society, and economic growth. The intersection of urban design, health, and environment should be addressed by policy-makers to protect public health and sustainable urban policies could be adopted to build urban resilience against any future emergencies.

SARS CoV-2 (COVID-19) 冠状病毒已在全球范围内造成巨大的痛苦、死亡和经济损失。对工业、非必要业务、交通和公民流动性采取了严格的遏制措施，以遏制传播。封锁可能对减少大气污染物产生有利影响。本研究基于2020年部分至完全封锁期间的Sentinel-5Ps和地面站观测数据分析了大气污染物的变化。结果表明，平均对流层NO ₂由于欧洲（即马德里、米兰、巴黎）和美国（即纽约、波士顿和斯普林菲尔德）的主要城市地区与 2019 年同期相比封锁，2020 年的集中度大幅下降 18-40%。相反，采取部分封锁措施或未采取封锁措施的城市地区（即华沙、皮埃尔、俾斯麦和林肯）的平均 NO _{2下降幅度相对较低}浓度（3 至 7.5%）。人们发现气象变化的作用可以忽略不计。尽管如此，大气污染物水平的降低主要归因于车辆、发电厂和工业排放的关闭。COVID-19 期间空气质量的改善可能是暂时的，但监管机构应学会在环境、社会和经济增长之间权衡取舍的基础上长期减少空气污染。政策制定者应解决城市设计、健康和环境的交叉问题，以保护公众健康，并且可以采用可持续城市政策来增强城市抵御未来任何紧急情况的能力。