Many hope that the novel pathogen Sars-CoV-2 will lose activity due to warm temperatures. A virologist explains whether outside temperatures affect the coronavirus.
The outbreak of the novel lung disease Covid-19 is currently the predominant topic worldwide. The corona virus has been spreading since the end of 2019. The coronavirus-induced lung disease Covid-19 had broken out in the province of Hubei, a region in the interior of central China. The metropolis of Wuhan located in it is still one of the high-risk areas to be avoided.
Initially classified as an epidemic, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic in March 2020 - a country-wide epidemic. The virus is now spreading globally, and almost every country reports coronavirus infections. Worldwide, the Coronavirus Resource Center of Johns Hopkins University has 198,193 Covid-19 cases, 7,954 deaths are reported (as of March 18 , 2020 ). 81,961 people are currently classified as fully recovered.
However, new cases in Germany are worrying citizens. So far, 9,360 patients have been counted nationwide, 26 people have died as a result of the infection. The prognoses about the further course of the Covid 19 pandemic are different. A US publication has recently disproved that warmer temperatures could slow the spread of the virus * . Researchers had calculated how the Sars-CoV-2 transmission could develop by 2025.
Covid-19: Rising temperatures hardly slow down the spread
Based on the model calculation from the USA, it can be seen that the epidemic will not slow down as expected in spring and summer, the medical journal Dr. Christian Drosten, Director of the Institute of Virology at Charité University Medicine Berlin. A study from China has also shown, according to the Ärzteblatt, that seasonal climate fluctuations will not significantly slow down the transmission of the new virus Sars-CoV-2 .
Humidity in particular plays an important role in the spread of many viruses. For example, moist air inactivates flu viruses *: These have a harder time in summer because the humidity rises in the warm months. The reason for this is the outside temperature: cold air can store moisture less well than warm air . According to the current state of knowledge, coronaviruses are unimpressed: "We probably have to expect that we will run straight into an epidemic wave despite the rising temperatures. The seasonal effect was not as great as with other cold viruses," the medical journal Virologe Drosten quotes on the 9th. March. Two days later, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the new disease a pandemic.
Read also : If you suspect Corona, not to the doctor: How to behave correctly .
Virologist makes prognosis: More and more coronavirus infections by summer
Virologist Christian Drosten gives a daily assessment of the situation in the corona virus podcast of the Norddeutscher Rundfunk. With regard to further development, he expects a continuous wave of infections that will reach its maximum in the period from June to August . In summer, a large part of the population will have been infected with the virus *, according to the expert in the NDR podcast. This should result in extensive immunity. However, the goal is to keep this wave of infection away from the older population. Young people with previous illnesses also belong to the risk group, for whom an infection can have life-threatening consequences.
Sources : www.medrxiv.org; www.aerzteblatt.de; www.pharmolekische-zeitung.de; www.coronavirus.jhu.edu; www.ndr.de
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