Effects of temperature variation and humidity on the mortality of COVID-19 in Wuhan

Yueling Ma; Yadong Zhao; Jiangtao Liu; Xiaotao He; Bo Wang; Shihua Fu; Jun Yan; Jingping Niu; Bin Luo

In retrospect studies, the outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in Guangdong in 2003 gradually faded with the warming weather coming, and was basically ended until July [6] . It has been documented that the temperature and its variations might have affected the SARS outbreak [7] . A study in Korea found that the risk of influenza incidence was significantly increased with low daily temperature and low/high relative humidity, a positive significant association was observed for diurnal temperature range (DTR) [8] . Moreover, temperature [9] and DTR [10] have been linked to the death from respiratory diseases. A study demonstrated that absolute humidity had significant correlations with influenza viral survival and transmission rates [11] . Couple of studies reported that the COVID-19 was related to the meteorological factors, which decreased with the temperature increasing [12, 13] , but their effects on the mortality had not been reported. Therefore, we assume that the weather conditions might also contributed to the mortality of COVID-19.