Many of us are wondering if the new coronavirus could, in theory, miraculously go away in April. Many scientists claim that it is too early to know how the deadly virus will behave in warmer weather.
The head of the Turkish Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Dr. Alpay Azap, said that they do not expect the warm weather to kill the virus but it could inhibit the spread of the disease significantly.
“When the air gets hot, the virus' survival time decreases and its contamination decreases,” he told Turkish broadcaster NTV.
“It is a respiratory disease. People go out when the weather gets warm, which reduces the speed at which the virus spreads,” Azap added.
Azap said that with the onset of the winter season in the Southern Hemisphere, the epidemic will mostly make its impact there.
“We do not expect the new coronavirus to disappear like SARS,” he said.
As of Tuesday, there are more than 114,000 cases worldwide. More than 80,000 are in mainland China, where COVID-19 originated. Of these cases, 64,000 have recovered. The total number of people who have died of the virus is over 4,000. According to the latest World Health Organization (WHO) estimate, the mortality rate stands at 3.4%.
While the development of vaccines is ongoing, treatments aimed at relieving symptoms have been successful in more than half of the cases.
COVID-19 produces mild symptoms in 80% of cases but for the elderly and sick, it can produce severe pneumonia and multiple organ failure. Symptoms include fever, cough and shortness of breath for about two to 14 days after exposure, according to the U.S.’ Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
