Will the onset of Indian summer arrest the march of the novel coronavirus? This question has been asked repeatedly in the past two weeks as...
Will the onset of Indian summer arrest the march of the novel coronavirus? This question has been asked repeatedly in the past two weeks as the viral respiratory disease, which originated in China in December, took a firm hold in several parts of India.
Officially known as Covid-19, coronavirus has been declared a pandemic by the World Health Organisation because of its rapid spread to over 100 countries around the world, infecting more than 1.2 lakh people and killing over 4,700. In India, the virus has now infected at least 77 people across 12 states, including Delhi, Kerala, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra.
As the Central government suspended all visas to India and states like Delhi and Karnataka announced the closure of schools and colleges for the next few weeks, panic around the spread of coronavirus has led many people to cling onto a common belief for hope: the belief that in warmer weather, viruses die out on their own.
In general, the spread of virus-based respiratory illnesses does tend to reduce with the rise in temperatures during summer. There has been global speculation on whether coronavirus, too, will stop transmitting rapidly once summer begins.
But can summer heat really bring the coronavirus pandemic to a halt?
On Thursday evening, India’s Union Health...
