Air Pollution and temperature are associated with increased COVID-19 incidence: a time series study

There is no author summary for this article yet. Authors can add summaries to their articles on ScienceOpen to make them more accessible to a non-specialist audience.

Highlights

•

Air quality is tightly associated with COVID-19 transmission.
•

PM _2.5 and NO ₂ strongly promote the COVID-19 transmission.
•

Temperature is inversely associated with COVID-19 transmission.

Abstract

Objectives

Although the COVID-19 is known to cause by human-to-human transmission, it remains largely unclear whether ambient air pollutants and meteorological parameters could promote its transmission.

Methods

A retrospective study is conducted to study whether air quality index (AQI), four ambient air pollutants (PM _2.5, PM ₁₀, NO ₂ and CO) and five meteorological variables (daily temperature, highest temperature, lowest temperature, temperature difference and sunshine duration) could increase COVID-19 incidence in Wuhan and XiaoGan between Jan 26 ^th to Feb 29 ^th in 2020.

Results

First, a significant correlation was found between COVID-19 incidence and AQI in both Wuhan (R ² = 0.13, p < 0.05) and XiaoGan (R ² = 0.223, p < 0.01). Specifically, among four pollutants, COVID-19 incidence was prominently correlated with PM _2.5 and NO ₂ in both cities. In Wuhan, the tightest correlation was observed between NO ₂ and COVID-19 incidence (R ² = 0.329, p < 0.01). In XiaoGan, in addition to the PM _2.5 (R ² = 0.117, p < 0.01) and NO ₂ (R ² = 0.015, p < 0.05), a notable correlation was also observed between the PM ₁₀ and COVID-19 incidence (R ² = 0.105, p < 0.05). Moreover, temperature is the only meteorological parameter that constantly correlated well with COVID-19 incidence in both Wuhan and XiaoGan, but in an inverse correlation (p < 0.05).

Conclusions

AQI, PM _2.5, NO ₂, and temperature are four variables that could promote the sustained transmission of COVID-19.

Related collections

Most cited references 26

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China

Wei-jie Guan, Zheng-yi Ni, Yu Hu … (2020)

Abstract Background Since December 2019, when coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) emerged in Wuhan city and rapidly spread throughout China, data have been needed on the clinical characteristics of the affected patients. Methods We extracted data regarding 1099 patients with laboratory-confirmed Covid-19 from 552 hospitals in 30 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities in mainland China through January 29, 2020. The primary composite end point was admission to an intensive care unit (ICU), the use of mechanical ventilation, or death. Results The median age of the patients was 47 years; 41.9% of the patients were female. The primary composite end point occurred in 67 patients (6.1%), including 5.0% who were admitted to the ICU, 2.3% who underwent invasive mechanical ventilation, and 1.4% who died. Only 1.9% of the patients had a history of direct contact with wildlife. Among nonresidents of Wuhan, 72.3% had contact with residents of Wuhan, including 31.3% who had visited the city. The most common symptoms were fever (43.8% on admission and 88.7% during hospitalization) and cough (67.8%). Diarrhea was uncommon (3.8%). The median incubation period was 4 days (interquartile range, 2 to 7). On admission, ground-glass opacity was the most common radiologic finding on chest computed tomography (CT) (56.4%). No radiographic or CT abnormality was found in 157 of 877 patients (17.9%) with nonsevere disease and in 5 of 173 patients (2.9%) with severe disease. Lymphocytopenia was present in 83.2% of the patients on admission. Conclusions During the first 2 months of the current outbreak, Covid-19 spread rapidly throughout China and caused varying degrees of illness. Patients often presented without fever, and many did not have abnormal radiologic findings. (Funded by the National Health Commission of China and others.)

0 comments Cited 13648 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding

Roujian Lu, Xiang Zhao, Juan Li … (2021)

Summary Background In late December, 2019, patients presenting with viral pneumonia due to an unidentified microbial agent were reported in Wuhan, China. A novel coronavirus was subsequently identified as the causative pathogen, provisionally named 2019 novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV). As of Jan 26, 2020, more than 2000 cases of 2019-nCoV infection have been confirmed, most of which involved people living in or visiting Wuhan, and human-to-human transmission has been confirmed. Methods We did next-generation sequencing of samples from bronchoalveolar lavage fluid and cultured isolates from nine inpatients, eight of whom had visited the Huanan seafood market in Wuhan. Complete and partial 2019-nCoV genome sequences were obtained from these individuals. Viral contigs were connected using Sanger sequencing to obtain the full-length genomes, with the terminal regions determined by rapid amplification of cDNA ends. Phylogenetic analysis of these 2019-nCoV genomes and those of other coronaviruses was used to determine the evolutionary history of the virus and help infer its likely origin. Homology modelling was done to explore the likely receptor-binding properties of the virus. Findings The ten genome sequences of 2019-nCoV obtained from the nine patients were extremely similar, exhibiting more than 99·98% sequence identity. Notably, 2019-nCoV was closely related (with 88% identity) to two bat-derived severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)-like coronaviruses, bat-SL-CoVZC45 and bat-SL-CoVZXC21, collected in 2018 in Zhoushan, eastern China, but were more distant from SARS-CoV (about 79%) and MERS-CoV (about 50%). Phylogenetic analysis revealed that 2019-nCoV fell within the subgenus Sarbecovirus of the genus Betacoronavirus, with a relatively long branch length to its closest relatives bat-SL-CoVZC45 and bat-SL-CoVZXC21, and was genetically distinct from SARS-CoV. Notably, homology modelling revealed that 2019-nCoV had a similar receptor-binding domain structure to that of SARS-CoV, despite amino acid variation at some key residues. Interpretation 2019-nCoV is sufficiently divergent from SARS-CoV to be considered a new human-infecting betacoronavirus. Although our phylogenetic analysis suggests that bats might be the original host of this virus, an animal sold at the seafood market in Wuhan might represent an intermediate host facilitating the emergence of the virus in humans. Importantly, structural analysis suggests that 2019-nCoV might be able to bind to the angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 receptor in humans. The future evolution, adaptation, and spread of this virus warrant urgent investigation. Funding National Key Research and Development Program of China, National Major Project for Control and Prevention of Infectious Disease in China, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shandong First Medical University.

0 comments Cited 5641 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

Record: found
Abstract: found
Article: not found

Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1

Neeltje van Doremalen, Trenton Bushmaker, Dylan H Morris … (2021)

To the Editor: A novel human coronavirus that is now named severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) (formerly called HCoV-19) emerged in Wuhan, China, in late 2019 and is now causing a pandemic. 1 We analyzed the aerosol and surface stability of SARS-CoV-2 and compared it with SARS-CoV-1, the most closely related human coronavirus. 2 We evaluated the stability of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 in aerosols and on various surfaces and estimated their decay rates using a Bayesian regression model (see the Methods section in the Supplementary Appendix, available with the full text of this letter at NEJM.org). SARS-CoV-2 nCoV-WA1-2020 (MN985325.1) and SARS-CoV-1 Tor2 (AY274119.3) were the strains used. Aerosols (<5 μm) containing SARS-CoV-2 (105.25 50% tissue-culture infectious dose [TCID50] per milliliter) or SARS-CoV-1 (106.75-7.00 TCID50 per milliliter) were generated with the use of a three-jet Collison nebulizer and fed into a Goldberg drum to create an aerosolized environment. The inoculum resulted in cycle-threshold values between 20 and 22, similar to those observed in samples obtained from the upper and lower respiratory tract in humans. Our data consisted of 10 experimental conditions involving two viruses (SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1) in five environmental conditions (aerosols, plastic, stainless steel, copper, and cardboard). All experimental measurements are reported as means across three replicates. SARS-CoV-2 remained viable in aerosols throughout the duration of our experiment (3 hours), with a reduction in infectious titer from 103.5 to 102.7 TCID50 per liter of air. This reduction was similar to that observed with SARS-CoV-1, from 104.3 to 103.5 TCID50 per milliliter (Figure 1A). SARS-CoV-2 was more stable on plastic and stainless steel than on copper and cardboard, and viable virus was detected up to 72 hours after application to these surfaces (Figure 1A), although the virus titer was greatly reduced (from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter of medium after 72 hours on plastic and from 103.7 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter after 48 hours on stainless steel). The stability kinetics of SARS-CoV-1 were similar (from 103.4 to 100.7 TCID50 per milliliter after 72 hours on plastic and from 103.6 to 100.6 TCID50 per milliliter after 48 hours on stainless steel). On copper, no viable SARS-CoV-2 was measured after 4 hours and no viable SARS-CoV-1 was measured after 8 hours. On cardboard, no viable SARS-CoV-2 was measured after 24 hours and no viable SARS-CoV-1 was measured after 8 hours (Figure 1A). Both viruses had an exponential decay in virus titer across all experimental conditions, as indicated by a linear decrease in the log10TCID50 per liter of air or milliliter of medium over time (Figure 1B). The half-lives of SARS-CoV-2 and SARS-CoV-1 were similar in aerosols, with median estimates of approximately 1.1 to 1.2 hours and 95% credible intervals of 0.64 to 2.64 for SARS-CoV-2 and 0.78 to 2.43 for SARS-CoV-1 (Figure 1C, and Table S1 in the Supplementary Appendix). The half-lives of the two viruses were also similar on copper. On cardboard, the half-life of SARS-CoV-2 was longer than that of SARS-CoV-1. The longest viability of both viruses was on stainless steel and plastic; the estimated median half-life of SARS-CoV-2 was approximately 5.6 hours on stainless steel and 6.8 hours on plastic (Figure 1C). Estimated differences in the half-lives of the two viruses were small except for those on cardboard (Figure 1C). Individual replicate data were noticeably “noisier” (i.e., there was more variation in the experiment, resulting in a larger standard error) for cardboard than for other surfaces (Fig. S1 through S5), so we advise caution in interpreting this result. We found that the stability of SARS-CoV-2 was similar to that of SARS-CoV-1 under the experimental circumstances tested. This indicates that differences in the epidemiologic characteristics of these viruses probably arise from other factors, including high viral loads in the upper respiratory tract and the potential for persons infected with SARS-CoV-2 to shed and transmit the virus while asymptomatic. 3,4 Our results indicate that aerosol and fomite transmission of SARS-CoV-2 is plausible, since the virus can remain viable and infectious in aerosols for hours and on surfaces up to days (depending on the inoculum shed). These findings echo those with SARS-CoV-1, in which these forms of transmission were associated with nosocomial spread and super-spreading events, 5 and they provide information for pandemic mitigation efforts.

0 comments Cited 4100 times – based on 0 reviews      Review now

Bookmark

All references

Author and article information

Contributors

Yan-Jun Guan

Journal

Journal ID (nlm-ta): Int J Infect Dis

Journal ID (iso-abbrev): Int. J. Infect. Dis

Title: International Journal of Infectious Diseases

Publisher: Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of International Society for Infectious Diseases.

ISSN (Print): 1201-9712

ISSN (Electronic): 1878-3511

Publication date PMC-release: 2 June 2020

Publication date (Electronic): 2 June 2020

Affiliations

[a ]Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, 83 Wen Hua Rd, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, 110801 China

[b ]Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Chang Hai Hospital affiliated to China Second Military Medical University, 168 Chang Hai Rd, Shanghai, 200433 China

[c ]Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Chang Zheng Hospital affiliated to China Second Military Medical University, 415 Feng Yang Rd, Shanghai, 200003 China

[d ]Department of Neurosurgery, Shanghai Chang Zheng Hospital affiliated to China Second Military Medical University, 415 Feng Yang Rd, Shanghai, 200003 China

[e ]Department of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, General Hospital of Northern Theater Command, 83 Wen Hua Rd, Shenyang, Liaoning Province, 110801 China

[f ]Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Shanghai Rui-Jin Hospital, Shanghai JiaotongUniversity School of Medicine, 149 Chong Qing Rd, Shanghai, 200020 PR China

Author notes

[* ]Corresponding author. guanyjsigma@ 123456yeah.net

Article

Publisher ID: S1201-9712(20)30383-0

DOI: 10.1016/j.ijid.2020.05.076

PMC ID: 7266595

PubMed ID: 32502664

SO-VID: acf46c51-bb44-4a0e-aaf0-576b99cfb916

License:

Since January 2020 Elsevier has created a COVID-19 resource centre with free information in English and Mandarin on the novel coronavirus COVID-19. The COVID-19 resource centre is hosted on Elsevier Connect, the company's public news and information website. Elsevier hereby grants permission to make all its COVID-19-related research that is available on the COVID-19 resource centre - including this research content - immediately available in PubMed Central and other publicly funded repositories, such as the WHO COVID database with rights for unrestricted research re-use and analyses in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for free by Elsevier for as long as the COVID-19 resource centre remains active.

History

Date received : 15 April 2020

Date revision received : 13 May 2020

Date accepted : 20 May 2020

Comments

Comment on this article

scite_

Cited by 140

See all cited by

Most referenced authors 1,428

See all reference authors

- Version 1

Air Pollution and temperature are associated with increased COVID-19 incidence: a time series study

Read this article at

Highlights

Abstract

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Related collections

Novel Coronavirus Disease COVID-19

Most cited references 26

Clinical Characteristics of Coronavirus Disease 2019 in China

Genomic characterisation and epidemiology of 2019 novel coronavirus: implications for virus origins and receptor binding

Aerosol and Surface Stability of SARS-CoV-2 as Compared with SARS-CoV-1

Author and article information

Contributors

Journal

Affiliations

Author notes

Article

History

Categories

Comments

Comment on this article

Similar content 183

Cited by 140

Most referenced authors 1,428