The origin of the novel human coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) and its potential for harm increased face mask and medical waste in the environment, thereby necessitating the urgent prevention and control of the pandemic. The article estimates the face mask and medical waste generation in Asia during the pandemic to convince the waste management and scientific communities to find ways to address the negative impact that the waste disposal has on the environment. Standardisation, procedures, guidelines and strict implementation of medical waste management related to COVID-19, community habitats and public areas should be carefully considered to reduce pandemic risks in hospitals, as proper medical waste disposal effectively controls infection sources.

The study aimed to assess the human health risk of PM_2.5-bound heavy metals from anthropogenic sources in Khon Kaen Province, Thailand between December 2020 and February 2021. According to the findings, the geometric mean concentration of PM_2.5 in the university area, residential area, industrial zone, and the agricultural zone was 32.78 μg/m³, 50.25 μg/m³, 44.48 μg/m³, and 29.53 μg/m³, respectively. The results showed that the estimated human health risk assessment, in terms of non-carcinogenic risks among children and adults in an urban area (residential and university), industrial zone, and the agricultural area, was of hazard index (HI) value of >1.0 indicating a greater chance of chronic effects occurring. This study showed that exposure to PM_2.5-bound heavy metal may increase the likelihood that lasting effects will result in a very high carcinogenic risk (CR) in children in residential areas, and an industrial zone with total carcinogenic risk (TCR) values of $0.23\times {10}^1$, and $0.12\times {10}^1$, respectively while resulting in a high TCR of $3.34\times {10}^{-2}$ and $4.11\times {10}^{-2}$ within the university areas and agricultural zone, respectively. In addition, health risk assessments among adults demonstrate high TCR values of $4.40\times {10}^{-1}$ (residential area), $2.28\times {10}^{-1}$ (industrial zone), and $7.70\times {10}^{-3}$ (agricultural zone), thus indicating a potential health risk to adults living in these areas while the university area was very low effects on carcinogenic risk ($\mathrm{CR}\le {10}^{-8}$) for adults. Therefore, lowering the risk of exposure to PM_2.5 via the respiratory tract, for example, wearing a mask outside is a very effective self-defense strategy for people within and around the study site. This data study strongly supports the implementation of the air pollutant emission source reduction measures control and health surveillance.