Experts warn against ‘false hope’, say summer may not help tackle coronavirus

The summer
heat may not necessarily kill or significantly weaken Sars-CoV-2, the virus
that causes the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19), say some experts, who
have warned against “false hope” following an analysis from China that said the
number of cases decreased after average temperatures crossed 8.72 degrees
Celsius.

Epidemiologists
say that while rising temperature and humidity may lead to modest declines in
the potency of Sars-CoV-2, countries should not depend on warm weather to slow
transmission, as the new virus may not react to seasonal changes in the way
that other seasonal viruses causing flu and common cold do.

The China
study found that in cold regions, every 1°C rise in average temperatures led to
an a cumulative increase in cases by 0.83, while in the higher-temperature
group, every 1°C increase in the minimum temperature led to a fall in the
cumulative number of cases by 0.86.

There may be
a best temperature for the viral transmission and the virus’s sensitivity to
high temperature could prevent it from spreading in warmer countries during the
summer, concluded the study, after analysing the cases from around the world
from January 20 to February 4, against meteorological data for January from
China and the capitals of the affected countries.