COVID-19 and relative humidity in regions of China and Ecuador

Abstract:

Introduction: The emergence of a new coronavirus in the city of Wuhan, December 2019, has alarmed the authorities of the World Health Organization due to its rapid spread and its complications in different scenarios. Objective: To analyze the behavior of relative humidity and its connection with new COVID-19 cases detected in some regions of China and Ecuador. Method: An observational and analytical methodology was applied on climatological and epidemiological data, obtained through the Weather Online and Statistics Web sites from various regions (Ecuador and the Province of Hubei). The data were processed in the statistical program IBM SPSS Statistics, calculating the maximum, minimum, median and average values, as well as Pearson's correlation tests and coefficient of determination between relative humidity variables and new cases values. Results: An inverse correlation was obtained between relative humidity and new cases with COVID-19 in the studied regions, where the analysis was significant for Wuhan and weak for Guayaquil city. Conclusions: There is an inverse correlation between the studied variables. The higher the relative humidity, the fewer the cases. Figures higher than 80% relative humidity could lead to a lower contagion risk; an interval between 60% and 75% would increase the risk of infection.

Año de publicación:

2021

Keywords:

Fuente:

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