A cross-sectional analysis of meteorological factors and SARS-CoV-2 transmission in 409 cities across 26 countries

Sera, Francesco and Armstrong, Ben and Abbott, Sam and Meakin, Sophie and O’Reilly, Kathleen and von Borries, Rosa and Schneider, Rochelle and Royé, Dominic and Hashizume, Masahiro and Pascal, Mathilde and Tobias, Aurelio and Vicedo-Cabrera, Ana Maria and Gasparrini, Antonio and Lowe, Rachel and Waites, William, MCC Collaborative Research Network, CMMID COVID-19 Working Group (2021) A cross-sectional analysis of meteorological factors and SARS-CoV-2 transmission in 409 cities across 26 countries. Nature Communications, 12. 5968. ISSN 2041-1723 (https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-021-25914-8)

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Abstract

There is conflicting evidence on the influence of weather on COVID-19 transmission. Our aim is to estimate weather-dependent signatures in the early phase of the pandemic, while controlling for socio-economic factors and non-pharmaceutical interventions. We identify a modest non-linear association between mean temperature and the effective reproduction number (Re) in 409 cities in 26 countries, with a decrease of 0.087 (95% CI: 0.025; 0.148) for a 10 °C increase. Early interventions have a greater effect on Re with a decrease of 0.285 (95% CI 0.223; 0.347) for a 5th - 95th percentile increase in the government response index. The variation in the effective reproduction number explained by government interventions is 6 times greater than for mean temperature. We find little evidence of meteorological conditions having influenced the early stages of local epidemics and conclude that population behaviour and government interventions are more important drivers of transmission.

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