Co-variance nexus between COVID-19 mortality, humidity, and air quality index in Wuhan, China: New insights from partial and multiple wavelet coherence

Fareed, Zeeshan; Iqbal, Najaf; Shahzad, Farrukh; Shah, Syed Ghulam Meran; Zulfiqar, Bushra; Shahzad, Khurram; Hashmi, Shujahat Haider; Shahzad, Umar

The worldwide outbreak of COVID-19 disease has caused immense damage to our health and economic and social life. This research article helps to determine the impact of climate on the lethality of this disease. Air quality index and average humidity are selected from the family of climate variables, to determine its impact on the daily new cases of COVID-19-related deaths in Wuhan, China. We have used wavelet analysis (wavelet transform coherence (WTC), partial (PWC), and multiple wavelet coherence (MWC), due to its advantages over traditional time series methods, to study the co-movement nexus between our selected data series. Findings suggest a notable coherence between air quality index, humidity, and mortality in Wuhan during a recent outbreak. Humidity is negatively related to the COVID-19-related deaths, and bad air quality leads to an increase in this mortality. These findings are important for policymakers to save precious human lives by better understanding the interaction of the environment with the COVID-19 disease.