Stay-at-home Policies and Air Quality: PM2.5-bound PAHs Trends and Population Health during COVID-19 at a Suburban Area in Giza, Egypt

Abstract During the COVID-19 pandemic, partial lockdown measures in Egypt created a natural experiment to assess their impact on toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) bound to fine particulate matter (PM 2.5 ) in semi-arid regions. While global air quality changes during lockdowns are documented, data on PAH characterization and associated health risks in understudied subtropical North African urban areas remain scarce. This study addresses this gap by examining changes in PAH profiles,