Association of Air Pollutant Index (API) on SARS-CoV-2 of Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Malaysia

Malaysia reported its first COVID-19 case on January 25, 2020, and the cases have continued to grow, necessitating the implementation of additional measures. Hence, determining the factors responsible for the significant increase in COVID-19 cases is the top priority issue for the government to take necessary action and ultimately restrain this virus before the vaccine availability. Researchers had predicted that air pollution had an indirect relationship with COVID-19 in terms of virus infections. As a result, this study focuses on the link between the Air Pollutant Index (API) and COVID-19 infections. The initial data set consists of daily confirmed COVID-19 cases in Malaysia and API readings obtained from the Ministry of Health (MOH) and the Department of the Environment (DOE). The results show that Klang (S22) recorded the highest mean of API which at 62.70 while the lowest is at Limbang (S37) (25.37). Next, due to the implementation of Movement Control Order (MCO) in Malaysia and reducing social movement, 27 stations recorded a good level of API compare to the stations that recorded moderate and unhealthy levels. There is positive relationship between API and COVID-19 at each of the region which are North 0.4% (R²=0.004), Central 2.1% (R²=0.021), South 0.04% (R²=0.0004), East 1.6% (R²=0.016), Sarawak 0.2% (R²=0.002), meanwhile Sabah recorded negative correlation at 4.3% (R²=0.043). To conclude, the API value did not have a strong relationship with the rising number of COVID-19 daily cases.