Independent association of meteorological characteristics with initial spread of Covid-19 in India.

ABSTRACT: Whether weather plays a part in the transmissibility of the novel Coronavirus Disease-19 (COVID-19) is still not established. We tested the hypothesis that meteorological factors (air temperature, relative humidity, air pressure, wind speed and rainfall) are independently associated with transmissibility of COVID-19 quantified using the basic reproduction rate (R₀). We used publicly available datasets on daily COVID-19 case counts (total n = 108,308), three-hourly meteorological data and community mobility data over a three-month period. Estimated R₀ varied between 1.15 and 1.28. Mean daily air temperature (inversely), wind speed (positively) and countrywide lockdown (inversely) were significantly associated with time dependent R₀, but the contribution of c

SUBMITTER: Kulkarni H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7566664 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature