AN AIR quality monitor will be installed at the John Radcliffe Hospital as part of research into the ongoing impacts of coronavirus.

Positioned outside the emergency department at the Oxford hospital, the monitor will collect live data on levels of fine and coarse particulates, carbon monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitric oxide and ozone.

It will be one of more than 40 sensors installed throughout Oxford as part of a study by Birmingham University in partnership with Oxford University.

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The data will be used to understand the impacts of transport and mobility changes associated with the pandemic and generate a series of future air quality control scenarios and predicted health benefits. This research project is an 18-month Covid-19 urgent response study, which will also include noise and smart roadside sensors across Oxford.

Sam Foster, chief nursing officer at Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, which runs the JR, said: “We are delighted to participate in this valuable research project.

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"Illnesses and deaths from air pollution are sadly increasing and therefore any data that can be collected to inform and improve public health is very important to us.

“The data that these monitors provides should also be extremely helpful for us to inform future transport and development on the John Radcliffe site.”