‘Everyone should practise good hygiene to protect against infections. ‘With the colder weather approaching … the community potentially in closer contact with each other and the potential increase in circulating respiratory viruses, which may include COVID-19, we need to emphasise continued vigilance with good hygiene practices,’ she said. Instead, Dr Hancock said good hygiene practices are a more important determining factor. ‘However … there is currently no available evidence about how temperature and humidity affects transmission of COVID-19.’ ‘Cooler weather provides more favourable conditions for the spread of most respiratory viruses, of which the most common are the coronaviruses – such as the common cold,’ she said. However, Dr Kerry Hancock, Chair of the RACGP Specific Interests Respiratory Medicine network, told newsGP she thinks the containment of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Australia has so far been a result of good quarantine practices and not necessarily related to current weather patterns. The evidence is to look at the common cold – it’s always during winter.’ ‘Basically, this is a severe form of the cold,’ he said. Professor Nicholls suggested the common cold is a better comparison to the new coronavirus than SARS or MERS, as he believes there has been a ‘severe underreporting’ of cases in China that has contributed to inflated fatality rate estimates. And high humidity, the virus doesn’t like it either.’īut while Australia’s warmer weather has theoretically helped protect the population from a wider outbreak to this point, the coming colder months may have the reverse effect. But at 30⁰C degrees then you get inactivation. ‘In regards to temperature, the virus can remain intact at 4⁰C or 10⁰C for a longer period of time. And Wuhan and Beijing are still cold, which is why there’s high infection rates. ‘That’s why I believe that Australia and the southern hemisphere will not see any great infection rates because they have lots of sunlight and they are in the middle of summer. Sunlight is really good at killing viruses,’ he said. ‘Sunlight will cut the virus’ ability to grow in half, so the half-life will be two-and-a-half minutes and in the dark it’s about 13–20 minutes. Speaking during a conference call organised by Hong Kong-based brokerage firm CLSA, Professor Nicholls referenced the 2002–03 SARS outbreak and said environmental conditions – such as temperature, humidity and sunlight – are a ‘crucial factor’ in a virus’ ability to survive and infect people. Recent leaked comments attributed to Professor John Nicholls from the University of Hong Kong’s Department of Pathology suggest he believes weather conditions will be a key factor in the demise of the coronavirus. But as Australia moves into its colder months, local experts maintain quarantine efforts such as good hygiene and self-isolation are still the most important factors.Ĭooler weather aids the spread of most respiratory viruses, but it is not known if this applies to the new coronavirus.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |