Background
COVID-19 has confirmed to be a pandemic with global and historical dimensions in the beginning of the 21st century. Climatic conditions are one of the environmental factors that influence communicable diseases, including viral diseases. Despite promising scientific advances into understanding the interaction between climate and COVID-19, a question remains: How can climate influence the pandemic of COVID-19?
Methods
It was updated the publications available on the climate and COVID-19 using Scopus, Web of Science, and PubMed database from January 1 to May 20, 2020. Statistical analysis, such normality and multicollinearity tests were performed between number of COVID-19 cases and climato-meteorological parameters (temperature, relative humidity, dew point temperature, atmosphere pressure, wind speed, wind gust, rainfall, and solar radiation, nebulosity and insolation ratio) in six Brazilian cities.
Results
This review reveals that temperature, relative humidity and absolute humidity alone do not able to explain the exponential number of COVID-19 cases. Most studies showed the SARS-CoV-2 satisfactorily can survive in a large range of temperature and humidity in temperature and tropical- humidity climates. Analyzing other meteorological parameter, insolation ratio that is related to the solar radiation and nebulosity, the results and in accordance with other studies suggest the transmission and contagion by SARS-CoV-2 seem to have been enhanced under from medium to low direct solar radiation and covered skies.
Conclusions
This study showed that the inclusion of other climatic variables, in addition to temperature and humidity, should guide future ecological models on the relationship between climate and COVID-19, especially the insolation ratio influences on the viral transmission in six Brazilian cities. Our findings may support public policies and coordinated actions to reduce and control of COVID-19.