Purpose: This research aims to explore the level of air pollution in Jakarta, the epicenter of COVID-19 Pandemic in Indonesia and its surrounding provinces during the first month of the Pandemic. Research design, data and methodology: This study uses data, which have been obtained real time from API (Application Programming Interfaces) of air quality website. The measurements of Air Quality Index (AQI), temperature, humidity, and other factors from several cities and regencies in Indonesia were obtained eight times a day. The data collected have been analyzed using descriptive statistics and mapped using QGIS. Results: The finding of this study indicates that The Greater Jakarta Area experienced a decrease in pollutant levels, especially in the Bogor area. Nevertheless, some areas, such as the north Jakarta, have exhibited slow reduction. Furthermore, the regions with high COVID-19 confirmed cases have experienced a decline in AQI. Conclusions: The study concludes that the air quality of three provinces, Jakarta, Banten, and West Java, especially in cities located in the Jakarta Metropolitan Area during COVID-19 pandemic and large-scale social restrictions, is getting better. However, in some regions, the reduction of pollutant concentrations requires a longer time, as it was very high before the pandemic.

This study aims to investigate the impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the stock markets of sixteen countries. Pooled OLS regression, conventional t-test and Mann-Whitney test are used to estimate the results of the study. We construct a weekly panel data of COVID-19 new cases and stock returns. Pooled OLS estimation result shows that the growth rate of weekly new cases of COVID-19 negatively predicts the return in stock market. Next, the returns on leading stock indices of these countries during the COVID-19 outbreak period are compared with returns during the non-COVID period. We use a t-test and Mann-Whitney test to compare the returns. The results reveal that investors in these countries do not react to the media news of COVID-19 at the early stage of the pandemic. However, once the human-to-human transmissibility had been confirmed, all of the stock market indices negatively reacted to the news in the short- and long-event window. Interestingly, we noticed that the Shanghai Composite Index, which was severely affected during the short-event window, bounced back during the long-event window. This indicates that the Chinese government’s drastic measures to contain the spread of the pandemic regained the confidence of investors in the Shanghai Stock Market.