56 Brighton Avenue East Orange, NJ 07017 [email protected] (732) 719-9990

Can Weather Be a Reason To Relax Covid-19 Control Measures? What Are UN Agency’s Thoughts On It?

The United Nations’ weather agency warned on Thursday that the recent onset of warmer temperatures in the northern hemisphere could not be seen as a reason to ease anti-coronavirus measures.

In a recent report, the United Nations World Meteorological Organization (WMO) reported that, contrary to a general belief that hot weather reduces the risk of Covid, virus distribution increased in late spring – and that “there is no evidence” that this year will be any different.

Mr. Zaitchik of Johns Hopkins University’s Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences said, “We saw waves of infection rise in warm seasons and warm regions in the first year of the pandemic, and there is no evidence that this couldn’t happen again in this year.”

COVID-19 transmission dynamics last year tend to have been primarily dominated by government interventions rather than meteorological influences, according to the study. Changes in human activity and demographics of infected populations and virus mutations are other important drivers.

It mentioned that there is “some tentative evidence” that poor air quality raises COVID-19 mortality rates but that pollution does not specifically affect SARS-CoV-2 virus airborne transmission. The study also stated that there is currently no clear, peer-reviewed evidence of pollution affecting the virus’s airborne viability.

Report by:

Journalist/Photographer _ Florence Akano

Journalist/Photographer _ Olivier Noudjalbaye Dedingar