First author of the study Dr Tom Smith, from the Department of Life Sciences at Imperial, said: “Our results show that temperature changes have a much smaller effect on transmission than policy interventions, so while people remain unvaccinated, governments mustn’t drop policies like lockdowns and social distancing just because a seasonal change means the weather is warming up”.
‘Warmer temperatures lessen COVID-19 spread but control measures still needed.’
Seasonal variation seen in flu viruses and other coronaviruses are affected by environmental factors as high temperatures and low humidity reduce the transmission of respiratory droplets, preventing the spread of flu but still there is uncertainty in forecasting the SARS-CoV-2 transmission.
This study proves that lower temperature and higher population density are associated with higher SARS-CoV-2 transmission but warmer regions have higher population densities so the most important drivers of COVID-19 spread are public policy and individual behaviour.
Source: Medindia
