Effects of temperature variation and humidity on the mortality of COVID-19 in Wuhan

Object Meteorological parameters are the important factors influencing the infectious diseases like severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). This study aims to explore the association between coronavirus disease (COVID-19) death and weather parameters. Methods In this study, we collected the daily death number of COVID-19, meteorological and air pollutant data from 20 January, 2020 to 29 February, 2020 in Wuhan, China. Then, the generalized additive model was applied to explore the impact of temperature, humidity and diurnal temperature range on daily mortality of COVID-19. Results There were in total 2299 COVID-19 mortality counts in Wuhan. A positive association with COVID-19 mortality was observed for diurnal temperature range (r = 0.44), but negative association for relative humidity (r = −0.32). In addition, each 1 unit increase in diurnal temperature range was only associated with a 2.92% (95% CI: 0.61%, 5.28%) increase in COVID-19 mortality at lag 3. However, both per 1 unit increase of temperature and absolute humidity were related to the decreased COVID-19 mortality at lag 3 and lag 5, respectively. Conclusion In summary, this study suggests the temperature variation and humidity may be important factors affecting the COVID-19 mortality.