With temperatures gradually rising and the state weather bureau Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) saying summer season will come, will it also mean that the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) will cease to infect others?
Medical experts are still uncertain if it will really go away.
Stuart Weston, a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Maryland School of Medicine where the virus is being actively studied, says it still hard to know at this point.
According to a report by National Geograhic, the new coronavirus that’s currently infecting a lot of people in at least 88 countries is labeled by health officials as SARS-CoV-2 while its disease is called coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).
Unlike the other member of the coronavirus family that tends to subside during warmer months because of its seasonal nature, this new coronavirus will have to be observed on how it will respond to the changing weather.
Ian Lipkin, director of the Columbia University’s Center for Infection and Immunity, says usually ultraviolet or UV light coming from the sun usually breaks down the nucleic acid. So with sunlight, it can help break down viruses that have been transmitted to surfaces.
UV light is often used to sterilize equipment in hospitals.
For Harvard epidemiologist Marc Lipsitch, if indeed weather changes affect how the virus spreads, then, it may worsen in the Southern Hemisphere regions as the seasons change like Africa and South America.
David Heymann from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine cautioned about the risk of making predictions, especially that not enough information is known about this new virus.
