COVID-19: Effects of temperature on CoronaVirus
Effect of temperature on Covid-19
As the researches reveal that viruses are Thermosensitive. They die in high temperatures because viruses cannot afford high temperatures. In this post, we will write about the effect of temperature on Coronavirus, also called COVID-19 or SARS-COV2.
But before this, is necessary to quote the role of temperature in the other pandemic in the past. In the past, many viruses like H1N1 and SARS-COV1 have caused epidemic or pandemic in the world, and numbers of peoples were killed in those epidemics and pandemic. Before going to talk about the effect of temperature on Covid-19, we will write about the resistance of these viruses to temperature one by one.
Effects of Temperature on Swine Flu
It was in 2009 that Swine Flu spread in the whole world and was declared as a pandemic. Swine Flue spread from the HIN1 virus. Swine Flu reappears as an epidemic in the two states of India in 2015. This virus HIN1 was transferred to humans from pigs via birds. This virus killed about 34,000 people in India. It has badly affected the two states of India, Gujarat and Rajasthan. The temperature in these states were increasing, and the people were thinking that this virus will be killed in high temperature. However, when the temperature reaches to 35-40 oC, gradually this virus eliminated by self, and the epidemic ends at a temperature high than 40 oC.
Effects of Temperature on SARS-COV1
If we trace back to 2002-2004, in which the SARS-COV1 pandemic started from Guangdong, China, and spread to about 29 other countries and killed more than 10,000 people. SARS-COV1 symptoms was also like COVID-19. But its Ro value was less than COVID-19 that is why SARS-COV1 did not transmit with such a high speed from person to person.
However, when SARS-COV1 was tested in the lab it was found that when the temperature rises up to 22-25 oC and humidity in the air is from 40-50% then this virus cannot live more than five days. If noted it is the normal room temperature. That is why SARS-Cov1 was not too disastrous as COVID-19 because it cannot survive more than five days at room temperature. That is why in the air condition room this virus easily survive.
When the experiments were further extended it was found that when the temperature rises to 38 oC and humidity to 95%, then this virus cannot survive at this condition.
It means that these viruses can not resist to temperature. But however, the viruses of the corona family are quite thermostable and resistant to temperature and cannot die so easily. Its current example is the current SARS-COV2 virus or COVID-19 that did not affect with rise in temperature.
Effects of Temperature on COVID-19
SARS-COV2 spread out in December, 2019 in Wuhan city of China and wrapped the whole world in a few months. This virus transferred to humans from bat. SARS-COV2 or COVID-19 is more disastrous than SARS-COV1 because they transmit with a very high speed from person to person due to its high Ro value. COVID-19 is spread to almost every country of the world and killed more than 560K people.
This current pandemic virus COVID-19 is quite resistible to temperature and can survive at a very high temperature. The recent research about Coronavirus shows that this virus dies at 56 oC temperature. Which is a very high temperature and is impossible to achieve in real life in every corner of the world. But, however, when the humidity in the air increases the killing temperature may decrease to 45-48 oC.
When the scientist try to kill a virus in the lab they not only increase temperature, but also increase the humidity. The science behind this is that the heat capacity of water is greater than air. Due to which the humid air has the capability to keep more heat at low temperatures than dry air at low temperatures. So it reveal to eliminate such a virus not only need a rise in temperature but also need humidity in the air.
For the elimination of COVID-19, the most suitable season is the monsoon season in which not only temperature rises but also an increase in humidity occurred. So it means that monsoon season may be a blessing season in this situation.
In recent research, it is published that this coronavirus dies at 56oC so it is very high temperature and it is impossible to have such temperature in every part of the world. So in the monsoon season rainfall occur that increases the humidity in the air and in most of the Asian countries the temperature rises up to 45 oC. So this rise in temperature and humidity provides a favorite condition for the elimination of COVID-19 virus in these countries. According to scientific reasoning, it is impossible for this virus to survive in this situation.
Is COVID-19 Artificial or Natural Virus?
Now come to the most important and controversial question about COVID-19 that is it artificial or natural virus? We will try to answer this question in this section.
If this COVID-19 virus did not die in such a humid and high-temperature environment in some of the Asian countries including Pakistan and India then as a medical scientist my view is that this virus is not a natural virus. It is an artificial virus this may be either the result of a deliberate and intentional research in the laboratory or it may be spread from a research laboratory due to some accident.