Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : March 25, 2020 6:21 PM IST
The lab leak theory often points to the Wuhan Institute of Virology.
The coronavirus outbreak has turned the world upside down. In India, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has declared a three-week nationwide lockdown starting midnight Tuesday to break the Covid-19 infection cycle. This has brought the normal life to a standstill in many states.
Meanwhile, scientists are in race against time to better understand the patterns of transmission of this deadly virus and find its cure. In the latest development, two MIT researchers have found that the spread of the novel coronavirus may be slower in warm and humid conditions.
They came to the conclusion after analysing the local weather patterns of regions affected by the novel coronavirus. The finding suggests that tropical countries like India may get much relief from coronavirus outbreak with the rise in temperature. But spreading due to environmental factors are unlikely to reduce across most of northern Europe and North America (USA and Canada) in summer.
They cited that till 22 March, most cases (90 percent) of COVID-19 transmissions occurred within temperature range of (3 to 17 degrees Celsius) and absolute humidity (4 to 9 g/m3). While countries with a temperature of over 18 degrees Celsius and absolute humidity of over 9 g/m3 reported less than 6 percent of the total cases.
Tough this figure suggests a relation between heat and humidity and lower numbers of novel coronavirus cases, the researchers are not clear about its underlying reason behind it. Hence, they stress focussing on quarantine measures and appropriate public health interventions even in hot and humid conditions.
As of March 25, there are 375,498 confirmed coronavirus cases, 16,362 confirmed deaths worldwide. The outbreak has affected 196 countries and territories around the world - according to WHO. Here are the top most affected countries, along with the number of confirmed cases -
Italy has reported the maximum number of coronavirus deaths at 6,077. China, the epicentre of the outbreak, has seen 3,283 death cases, followed by USA at 471. India is currently in the 40th rank, with 562 confirmed COVID-19 cases, including 9 deaths.
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