Economic output has plunged during the COVID-19 lockdown, but a positive outcome has been the attendant drop in outdoor air pollution. The results are startling: in the year between 26 March 2019 and 26 March 2020, levels of traffic-related pollutant nitrogen dioxide (NO2) more than halved in major UK cities (Khoo, 2020).

But ‘normal’ life will resume, businesses will reopen, and roads will once again be clogged with traffic. Consequently, levels of air pollution will rise and health will suffer – and eye health is no exception.