Spatiotemporal variability of COVID-19 pandemic in relation to air pollution, climate and socioeconomic factors in Pakistan

Mehmood, Khalid; Bao, Yuhai; Abrar, Muhammad; Petropoulos, George P.; Saifullah, -; Soban, Ahmad; Saud, Shah; Khan, Zalan Alam; Khan, Shah Masud; Fahad, Shah

doi:10.1016/j.chemosphere.2021.129584

Cited by 47 publications

(33 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…This disease later spread worldwide including Iran, Europe, India, United Kingdom (UK), and Pakistan, and officially became a pandemic on March 11, 2020 (13,14). In Pakistan, the first incidence of this disease was identified at the end of February 2020 (15,16). COVID-19 is extremely contagious and its spread takes place via humanto-human transmissions (17).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19: A Retrospective Multi-Center Study in Pakistan

Ahmad

Beg

Majeed

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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The emergence of a pathogen responsible for a mysterious respiratory disease was identified in China and later called a novel coronavirus. This disease was named COVID-19. The present study seeks to determine the epidemiological and clinical characteristics of COVID-19 in Pakistan. This report will exhibit a linkage between epidemiology and clinical aspects which in turn can be helpful to prevent the transmission of the virus in Pakistan. A retrospective, multiple center study was performed by collecting the data from patients' with their demographics, epidemiological status, history of co-morbid conditions, and clinical manifestations of the disease. The data was collected from 31 public-sector and 2 private hospitals across Pakistan by on-field healthcare workers. A Chi-square test was applied to assess the relationship between categorical data entries. A total of 194 medical records were examined. The median age of these patients was found to be 34 years. A total of 53.6% active cases were present including 41.2% males and 12.4% females till the end of the study. Adults accounted for most of the cases (94.3%) of COVID-19. Fever (86.60%), cough (85.05%), fatigue (36.60%), dyspnea (24.74%), and gastrointestinal discomfort (10.31%) were among the most frequently reported signs and symptoms by the patients. However, 4.12% of the total patient population remained asymptomatic. The median duration of hospital stay was found to be 14 (0–19) days. The earliest source of the spread of the virus may be linked to the foreigners traveling to Pakistan. Spread among men was more as compared to women. A few cases were found to be positive, due to the direct contact with pets or livestock. Hypertension (7.73%), diabetes (4.64%), cardiovascular conditions (2.58%) were the most common co-morbidities. The percentage mortality was 2.50% with the highest mortality among elders.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19: A Retrospective Multi-Center Study in Pakistan

Ahmad

Beg

Majeed

et al. 2021

Front. Public Health

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“…It is considered that, like other respiratory viruses, coronavirus is the most contagious in symptomatic patients ( Li et al, 2020 ). Cases have been reported where coronaviruses have been transmitted by airborne particles, further bolstering the idea that coronaviruses can spread through the air ( Mehmood et al, 2021 ). During coughing, talking, and exhaling, viruses are spread into microdroplets that are small enough to remain suspended in the air for some time long enough to expose others from more than one to two meters away ( Morawska and Milton, 2020 ).…”

Section: Modes Of Transmissionmentioning

confidence: 87%

“…In transboundary infection, the effect of shared cultural and behavioral practices on the temporal and spatial spread of COVID-19 in south Asia remains unknown ( Islam et al, 2021 ). However, studies considering climatic and non-climatic factors while understanding this pandemic outbreak in South Asia are limited (exceptions Jha et al, 2021 ; Mehmood et al, 2021 ; Tandukar et al, 2021 ; Islam et al, 2021 ). Therefore, it is justifiable to explore the effect of climatic and non-climatic determinants on transmitting this novel coronavirus in the South Asian region to provide practical implications for researchers, policymakers, and the general people.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, arid and tropical climate conditions are less conducive to the virus spreading. Tosepu et al (2020); Liu et al 2020 ; Xie and Zhu 2020 ; Sajadi et al, 2020 ; Araujo and Naimi, 2020 ; Bashir et al, 2020 ; Şahin,2020; Mehmood et al, 2021 ;Rahman et al, 2020 Humidity High absolute humidity performs a slowdown in transmissions. In contrast to this finding, many studies reported that low relative humidity likely favored the transmission of COVID-19 and showed an interactive effect between daily temperature and relative humidity on COVID-19 incidence.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Influences of climatic and non-climatic factors on COVID-19 outbreak: A review of existing literature

Alam

Sultana

2021

Environmental Challenges

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Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has become a significant global public health issue resulting from SARS-CoV-2 (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2). COVID-19 outbreak approaches an unprecedented challenge for human health, the economy, and societies. The transmission of the COVID-19 is influenced by many factors, including climatic, environmental, socio-economic, and demographic. This study aimed to investigate the influences of climatic and sociodemographic determinants on COVID-19 transmission. The climatic variables considered herein were air temperature, relative humidity, wind speed, air pollution, and cumulative precipitation. Sociodemographic variables included population density, socio-economic conditions, misinformation, and personal hygiene practices towards the pandemic. Review results indicated that lower temperatures and greater incidence of COVID-19 are reported in a more significant number of studies. Another factor linked to COVID-19 occurrence was the humidity. However, the results were varied; some research reported positive, and others reported negative relationships. In addition, poor air quality, along with strong winds, makes the virus more vulnerable to spreading, leading to a spike in COVID-19 cases. PM2.5, O3, and NO2 also showed a strong correlation with the recent epidemic. The findings on rainfall were inconsistent between studies. Among the non-climatic factors, population density, education, and income were credited as potential determinants for the coronavirus outbreak. Climatic and sociodemographic factors showed a significant correlation on the COVID-19 outbreak. Thus, our review emphasizes the critical importance of considering climatic and non-climatic factors while developing intervention measures. This study's core findings will support the decision-makers in identifying climatic and socio-economic elements that influence the risks of future pandemics.

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“…A few researchers have already exhorted about signi cant association of environmental parameters to COVID-19 transmission (Azuma et al, 2020;Bherwani et al, 2020;Eslami and Jalili, 2020;Gupta and Pradhan, 2020a;Kifer et al, 2021;Rume and Islam, 2020;Saadat et al, 2020;Shakil et al, 2020). There are also a few global as well as regional studies that had been carried out in the context of China, USA, England, Germany, Spain, Italy, Indonesia, Iran, Pakistan, Bangladesh, India, and found signi cant correlation between weather parameters and the COVID-19 cases (Ahmadi et al, 2020;Fadli et al, 2020;Ficetola and Rubolini, 2021;Gupta and Pradhan, 2020b;Liu et al, 2020b;Ma et al, 2020;Mehmood et al, 2021;Nottmeyer and Sera, 2021;Qi et al, 2020;Tosepu et al, 2020). Studies carried out by Bochenek et al, 2021;Borah et al, 2020;Briz-Redón and Serrano-Aroca, 2020;Emediegwu, 2021;Guo et al, 2021;Mecenas et al, 2020;Runkle et al, 2020;Şahin, 2020;Sil and Kumar, 2020 suggested that warm and humid condition days incubation period, lower the number of cases (Şahin, 2020).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Does Environment has any role in recovery from COVID-19 pandemic? A case study from India.

Gupta¹,

Saha

2021

Preprint

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The present study has investigated the role of meteorology and air quality for recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic in India. Using Pearson’s correlation method, we look into if there is any significant association occurs between the district level recovery case counts and different remote sensing based environmental variables. Among weather parameters, only precipitation and air temperature found to be significantly correlated with recovery situation. However, all the pollutants’ concentration was negatively correlated with count of recovery cases. It depicts that air quality might has greater importance in recovery from this disease. During late monsoon onwards, recovery rate was getting more than the infections which indicate that lesser temperature and good rainfall could help the air to be freshen. Through air pollution was greater during winter and post monsoon than the summer season in India the higher recovery rate was counted during post-monsoon and winter which suggest that patients may require lesser temperate ambient for better recovery. Spatial patterns also suggest that north-eastern hilly region followed by districts located in the northern mountain had better recovery where the pollutants’ concentration was also quite lower during the study period. Therefore, improving air quality with proper preventive precaution could help to combat the pandemic situation in India.

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Spatiotemporal variability of COVID-19 pandemic in relation to air pollution, climate and socioeconomic factors in Pakistan

Cited by 47 publications

References 53 publications

Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19: A Retrospective Multi-Center Study in Pakistan

Epidemiological and Clinical Characteristics of COVID-19: A Retrospective Multi-Center Study in Pakistan

Influences of climatic and non-climatic factors on COVID-19 outbreak: A review of existing literature

Does Environment has any role in recovery from COVID-19 pandemic? A case study from India.

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