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Review
. 2021 May:196:110972.
doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.110972. Epub 2021 Mar 9.

Is coronavirus disease (COVID-19) seasonal? A critical analysis of empirical and epidemiological studies at global and local scales

Woo Seok Byun  1 , Sin Woo Heo  1 , Gunhee Jo  1 , Jae Won Kim  1 , Sarang Kim  1 , Sujie Lee  1 , Hye Eun Park  1 , Jea-Hyun Baek  2
Affiliations
Review

Is coronavirus disease (COVID-19) seasonal? A critical analysis of empirical and epidemiological studies at global and local scales

Woo Seok Byun et al. Environ Res. 2021 May.

Abstract

Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has infected more than 50 million people and killed more than one million, worldwide, during less than a year course. COVID-19, which has already become the worst pandemic in the last 100 years, is still spreading worldwide. Since the beginning of the outbreak, it has been of particular interest to understand whether COVID-19 is seasonal; the finding might help for better planning and preparation for the fight against the disease. Over the past 12 months, numerous empirical and epidemiological studies have been performed to define the distinct diffusion patterns of COVID-19. Thereby, a wealth of data has accumulated on the relationship between various seasonal meteorological factors and COVID-19 transmissibility at global and local scales. In this review, we aimed to discuss whether COVID-19 exhibits any seasonal features in a global and local perspective by collecting and providing summaries of the findings from empirical and epidemiological studies on the COVID-19 pandemic during its first seasonal cycle.

Keywords: COVID-19; Epidemiology; Meteorologic factors; SARS-CoV-2; Seasonality.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
The impact of meteorological factors on COVID-19 incidence at global scopes.
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Meteorological factors highly related with COVID-19 incidence at global scopes.
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
The impact of meteorological factors on COVID-19 incidence at local scopes.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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