Coronavirus: Is Hot Weather Keeping India Safe?

India is not one of the worst affected countries of Coronavirus despite being the neighbour of the epicentre of the outbreak, China. Only six confirmed cases have been reported India. Compare this with other countries. The number of confirmed cases have crossed 80,000 in China, 5,000 in South Korea and 2,000 in Italy. The spread has been limited in India.

Weather is definitely a deterrent for the viral attacks in India.

The geographical spread of coronavirus has so far been restricted to countries with colder climates. The maximum number of cases are reported in China’s Wuhan, where sub-zero minimum temperatures were reported during both January and February.

Even in Seoul in South Korea, minimum temperatures were much below 0°C during February. Even Rome in Italy and Tehran in Iran recorded sub-zero temperatures in February.

In contrast, most of the major cities in India witnessed temperatures in the range of 10 to 35°C in February.

Even the lowest minimum temperature recorded in Delhi was more than 5°C. While Kolkata saw minimum temperatures around 10°C in February, the mercury stayed above 15°C in Bengaluru and Hyderabad and above 20°C in Mumbai and Chennai.

Not just the present coronavirus outbreak, even the earlier epidemics like MERS, SARS, Ebola and yellow fever, had a minimal impact in India. Therefore, scientists suggest that the viral infections of this category may not spread as rapidly in India as they did in countries with colder climate as high temperature and humidity could be making it difficult for viruses to survive and remain potent.

India probably really has an innate, natural defence against the deadly coronavirus after all.

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