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Published 20:43 IST, April 5th 2020

The Earth is 'standing still' claim seismologists citing less human activity during Covid

With the entire world at a standstill due to pandemic Coronavirus (COVID-19), the planet too seems to 'standing still' reveal seismologists all around the world

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With the entire world at a standstill due to pandemic Coronavirus (COVID-19), the planet too seems to 'standing still' reveal scientists. According to recent studies by seismologists the drastic reduction in human activity has caused the Earth to move substantially less. Currently, there 12,25,686 cases across the globe with 66,560 deaths.

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Earth is 'standing still' due to reduced human activity : Seismologists

Thomas Lecocq, a geologist at the Royal Observatory in Belgium has observed that Brussels is experiencing a 30 to 50 percent reduction in ambient seismic noise since the lockdowns began, according to international news reports. With the reduction in movement of the  Earth's crust, seismologists believe that they will be capable of detecting even the smallest tremors - despite the fact that many of the scientific instruments in use today are near city centers. Similar seismic noise reduction was noticed in UK and US.

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However, seismologists have added that scientists collecting data from remote stations far away from human activity might not see a change at all, according to a study published in the scientific journal Nature. Currently, most flights from major countries like US, UK, India, China, Spain, France etc have been stopped as the pandemic has hit over 160 countries. Several countries like taly, Spain, France, Germany, UK, Austria, Belgium, Portugal, Bangladesh, India, South Africa, Canada etc have called for a nationwide shutdown as the pandemic's epicenter shifted from China to Europe to now - the US.

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The Coronavirus crisis

First detected in Wuhan in December 2019, COVID-19- the novel coronavirus has affected nearly 160 countries in the world. As there is no vaccine or specific antiviral medicine to deal to treat COVID-19, countries have been grappling with all possible mechanisms to contain its scope. So far, China, South Korea, Italy, Spain, Iran, US, France, UK have witnessed the most number of confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus, with the WHO declaring US as the 'epicenter' - with 8468 deaths.

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Updated 20:43 IST, April 5th 2020

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