Elsevier

Environmental Research

Volume 193, February 2021, 110355
Environmental Research

COVID-19 and climatic factors: A global analysis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envres.2020.110355Get rights and content

Highlights

  • A global study from 206 countries/regions to examine the effects of climatic factors on COVID-19.

  • We adjusted for a range of climatic and structural factors in the analysis.

  • No association with 7-day lagged climatic variables and COVID-19.

  • Positive association between COVID-19 and 14-day lagged temperature.

  • Negative association between COVID-19 and 14-day lagged wind speed.

  • Consistently higher rate of COVID-19 cases in absolute humidity of 5–10 g/m3.

Abstract

Background: It is unknown if COVID-19 will exhibit seasonal pattern as other diseases e.g., seasonal influenza. Similarly, some environmental factors (e.g., temperature, humidity) have been shown to be associated with transmission of SARS-CoV and MERS-CoV, but global data on their association with COVID-19 are scarce. Objective: To examine the association between climatic factors and COVID-19. Methods: We used multilevel mixed-effects (two-level random-intercepts) negative binomial regression models to examine the association between 7- and 14-day-lagged temperature, humidity (relative and absolute), wind speed and UV index and COVID-19 cases, adjusting for Gross Domestic Products, Global Health Security Index, cloud cover (%), precipitation (mm), sea-level air-pressure (mb), and daytime length. The effects estimates are reported as adjusted rate ratio (aRR) and their corresponding 95% confidence interval (CI). Results: Data from 206 countries/regions (until April 20, 2020) with ≥100 reported cases showed no association between COVID-19 cases and 7-day-lagged temperature, relative humidity, UV index, and wind speed, after adjusting for potential confounders, but a positive association with 14-day-lagged temperature and a negative association with 14-day-lagged wind speed. Compared to an absolute humidity of <5 g/m3, an absolute humidity of 5–10 g/m3 was associated with a 23% (95% CI: 6–42%) higher rate of COVID-19 cases, while absolute humidity >10 g/m3 did not have a significant effect. These findings were robust in the 14-day-lagged analysis. Conclusion: Our results of higher COVID-19 cases (through April 20) at absolute humidity of 5–10 g/m3 may be suggestive of a ‘sweet point’ for viral transmission, however only controlled laboratory experiments can decisively prove it.

Keywords

COVID-19
SARS-CoV-2
Temperature
Humidity
Climatic factors
Meteorological factors

Cited by (0)

1

NI and QB, joint first authors.

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