Correlation of humidity and temperature with COVID-19 transmission: a systematic review of published literature

Abstract

Studying the climate conditions of the transmission of severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) is important for understanding how the COVID-19 pandemic will spread across different climate zones and in different seasons. There are many studies that have examined the effects of humidity and temperature on the transmissibility of SARS-CoV-2, with varying results. This systematic review examined all papers addressing the effects of temperature and humidity on SARS-CoV-2 transmission using conventional and AI-driven literature searches. A total of 128 relevant articles were found, with quantitative data extracted from 57 studies. The results of a meta-analysis of correlational data indicate that temperature and humidity are both positively and negatively correlated with COVID-19 cases, with no obvious patterns emerging when taking multi-country and single-country studies into account. The unexpectedly wide range in the published data suggest that the seasonal factors of temperature and humidity alone will not be sufficient for predicting trends in SARS-CoV-2 transmissibility.