Weather Affects Virus Transmission, Claims Debrecen University

  • 16 Apr 2020 9:20 AM
  • Budapest Business Journal
Weather Affects Virus Transmission, Claims Debrecen University
From sunshine to temperature and rain to humidity, all weather elements affect the spread of viruses, Sándor Szegedi, the head of the meteorological department of the University of Debrecen (DE) said in a statement on the institution’s web portal yesterday.

By adhering to the floating aerosol particles in smog, viruses can travel long distances, and when they arrived in Europe, the mild but gloomy late winter and early spring weather also favored their spread, he said.

Temperatures significantly below freezing and extremely high humidity of 90% and higher greatly reduce the spread of the virus. Rain washes out viruses from the air, while wind is a double-edged sword, as it can blow away disease-causing particles up to tens of meters away.

Szegedi said that direct solar radiation is the biggest enemy of the epidemic, as ultraviolet rays have a bactericidal and antiviral effect, he explained.

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Hungary's largest and oldest source of business and financial news in English. Since 1992 it has presented essential information on Hungarian business life, including international analyses about the country. These days the BBJ newspaper is published every other week, while it releases daily business news online including premium paid content.

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