GENEVA: The United Nations said on Thursday that the novel coronavirus could turn into an annual disease but urged governments not to look at it as a factor in reducing the epidemic-related measures.
More than a year after the novel coronavirus first appeared in China, many mysteries still surround the spread of the disease that has killed nearly 2.7 million people worldwide.
In its first report, a team of experts tasked with trying to unravel one of those mysteries by examining the effects of weather and climate on the spread of COVID-19, has found indications that the disease will start to become an annual threat.
A 16-member team set up by the UN ‘World Meteorological Organization has revealed that respiratory infections caused by respiratory infections are more likely to occur at certain times of the year, “especially high autumn and winter colds and coronaviruses that cause colds in warmer climates.”
“This has boosted hopes that, if it continues for many years, COVID-19 will be the worst disease of the season,” the statement said.
Model studies expect that the transmission of SARS-CoV-2, a virus that causes COVID-19 infection, “could be a year-long one”.
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But the transmission capacity of COVID-19 so far appears to have been largely influenced by government intervention such as mask requirements and travel restrictions, they say, not the weather.
The task team therefore emphasized that climate change and climate alone should not be the cause of loosening the barriers against COVID.
“Currently, the evidence is inconsistent with the use of climate and air quality as a basis for the government to relax their interventions aimed at reducing transfers,” said Ben Zaitchik, chairman of the department of astronomy and planetary science at The John Hopkins University in the United States.
He pointed out that in the first year of the epidemic, infections in some areas have grown in warmer times, “and there is no evidence that this will ever happen again next year”.
Experts, who focused exclusively on the weather and the weather in the report, said the laboratory study provided some evidence that the virus lives longer in cold, dry climates and in low ultraviolet radiation.
But it is not yet clear whether the influence of climate “has a significant impact on transmission rates under real world conditions”.
They also point out that the evidence surrounding the impact of air pollution on the virus remains “unclear”.
There was initial evidence that poor air quality increased COVID-19 mortality rates, “but not that pollution directly affects the airborne transmission of SARS-CoV-2”.
