Many studies have been carried out so far to ascertain the effect of temperature and humidity on the novel coronavirus. In this regard, new study is conducted by University of Nicosia researchers, and published in the American Institute of Physics journal Physics of Fluids in June 2020 states, when temperature is high and relative humidity is low simultaneously, there is a significant reduction in virus viability. Contrarily, when RH is high, then the distance travelled by the droplet cloud, and the virus concentration remain significant at any temperature. This is in contrast with what was previously believed by many epidemiologists. For example, in July, when temperature and RH were both high, cases saw a surge in Delhi. The government data shows the number of cases grew from 87,000 at the end of June to 1.35 lakh at the end of July.
The researchers paid attention to humidity, temperature, and wind speed, and developed new theoretical correlations for the unsteady evaporation of coronavirus-contaminated saliva droplets, which introduced the thermodynamic properties of virions (the complete virus) as a liquid.
The gist of the finding is that evaporation is a critical factor for the transmission of the infectious particles, immersed in respiratory clouds of saliva droplets.
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Covid-19 is a respiratory illness and the primary transmission route is through person-to- person contact and through direct contact with respiratory droplets generated when an infected person coughs or sneezes. There is some evidence that Covid-19 infection may lead to intestinal infection and be present in faeces with only one study having found the Covid-19 virus from a single stool specimen. Moreover, there have been reports of the spread of virus through faecal-oral transmission.
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Courtesy: Indian Express, WHO