Rain, rain, go away, come again another day: do climate variations enhance the spread of COVID-19?

• Main Authors: Menhat, Masha, Ariffin, Effi Helmy, Dong, Wan Shiao, Zakaria, Junainah, Ismailluddin, Aminah, Shafril, Hayrol Azril Mohamed, Muhammad, Mahazan, Othman, Ahmad Rosli, Kanesan, Thavamaran, Ramli, Suzana Pil, Akhir, Mohd Fadzil, Ratnayake, Amila Sandaruwan
• Format: Article
• Published: BMC 2024
• Subjects: Q Science (General)
• Online Access: http://eprints.um.edu.my/45237/; https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-024-01044-w
• Institution: Universiti Malaya

The spread of infectious diseases was further promoted due to busy cities, increased travel, and climate change, which led to outbreaks, epidemics, and even pandemics. The world experienced the severity of the 125 nm virus called the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), a pandemic declared by the World Health Organization (WHO) in 2019. Many investigations revealed a strong correlation between humidity and temperature relative to the kinetics of the virus's spread into the hosts. This study aimed to solve the riddle of the correlation between environmental factors and COVID-19 by applying RepOrting standards for Systematic Evidence Syntheses (ROSES) with the designed research question. Five temperature and humidity-related themes were deduced via the review processes, namely 1) The link between solar activity and pandemic outbreaks, 2) Regional area, 3) Climate and weather, 4) Relationship between temperature and humidity, and 5) the Governmental disinfection actions and guidelines. A significant relationship between solar activities and pandemic outbreaks was reported throughout the review of past studies. The grand solar minima (1450-1830) and solar minima (1975-2020) coincided with the global pandemic. Meanwhile, the cooler, lower humidity, and low wind movement environment reported higher severity of cases. Moreover, COVID-19 confirmed cases and death cases were higher in countries located within the Northern Hemisphere. The Blackbox of COVID-19 was revealed through the work conducted in this paper that the virus thrives in cooler and low-humidity environments, with emphasis on potential treatments and government measures relative to temperature and humidity. Highlights center dot The coronavirus disease 2019 (COIVD-19) is spreading faster in low temperatures and humid area. center dot Weather and climate serve as environmental drivers in propagating COVID-19. center dot Solar radiation influences the spreading of COVID-19. center dot The correlation between weather and population as the factor in spreading of COVID-19.