Effect of meteorological parameters on spread of COVID-19 in India and air quality during lockdown

The novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) was identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China, in December 2019 and has created a medical emergency worldwide. In India, it is already reported more than 855 thousand cases and more than 22 thousands deaths due to COVID-19 till July 12, 2020. The role of temperature, humidity, and absolute humidity in the transmission of COVID-19 has not yet been well established. In contrast, for the previous many viral infections like influenza, it is well established. Therefore the study to investigate the meteorological condition for incidence and spread of COVID-19 infection and to provide a scientific basis for prevention and control measures against the new disease is required for India. In this work, we analyze daily averaged meteorological data for the last three years (2017–2019) for March, April and May months and the same for the year 2020 for March 1 to May 31. We found a positive association between daily COVID-19 cases and temperature and a mixed association with relative and absolute humidity over India. We have investigated the association of aerosols (AOD) and other pollutions (NO(2)) with COVID-19 cases during the study period and also during the lockdown period (25 March-31 May) in India. During the lockdown period, aerosols (AOD) and NO(2) reduced sharply with a maximum percentage drop of about 60 and 45, respectively. We have also found the reduction in surface PM(2.5) PM(10) and NO(2) for the six mega cities of India during the lockdown period. Our results suggest that COVID-19 still may spread in warm, humid regions or during summer/monsoon, therefore an effective public health intervention should be implemented across India to slow down the transmission of COVID-19.