IIT-AIIMS Study Reveals Monsoon, Winter To Worsen Coronavirus Pandemic

On Sunday, the country was just 1,000 short of touching 40,000 per day figure, and the total tally remained one day short of reaching another lakh.

Photo: AFP

While the country continues to reel under the threat posed by Coronavirus pandemic, it appears that containing the spread of the novel COVID-19 may become a greater challenge in coming post-monsoon and winter season. According to a study titled "COVID-19 spread in India and its dependence on temperature and relative humidity, conducted jointly by researchers at IIT-Bhubaneswar and AIIMS-Bhubaneswar, experts are of the belief that with a continuous fall in temperature in the upcoming monsoon, post-monsoon, and thereafter, winter, the challenge will only become bigger and greater for India. News Agency IANS reported that the study, led by V Vinoj, Assistant Professor of the School of Earth, Ocean and Climatic Sciences at IIT-Bhubaneswar, examined relationship between COVID-19 outbreak patterns, cases in 28 states between April and June, and environmental factors such as temperature, relative humidity, specific humidity, and solar radiation. The report mentioned that as per the results and analysis drown post studying the factors, it was revealed that that temperature and relative humidity have a significant impact on the disease growth rate and doubling time. The study claimed that every degree rise in temperature corresponds to a 0.99 per cent decrease in the number of cases and an increase in doubling time by approximately 1.13 days, implying a slowing down of spread. The results further showed that more moisture leads to a higher growth rate of COVID-19 cases and reduced doubling time, adding that lower specific humidity and higher surface-reaching solar radiation reduced the spread and increased the doubling time similar to that of temperature. It can be noted that Coronavirus situation in the country seems to be getting worse with each passing day. On Sunday, the country was just 1,000 short of touching 40,000 per day figure, and the total tally remained one day short of reaching another lakh. With highest single day spike of 38,902 cases, the total COVID-19 cases in India spiked to 10,77,619. With 22,381 more cases, India would touch 11 lakh cases and given the trends of per-day rise, it is most likely to reach the grim figure by tomorrow. Highest single day spike of 38,902 cases and 543 deaths reported in India in the last 24 hours, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare released the figures on Sunday. ALSO WATCH | The Lancet: World population likely to shrink after mid-century