Meteorological parameters and COVID-19 spread-Russia a case study

Abstract An attempt was made in this chaper to understand the meteorological controls on SARS-CoV-2 (COVID-19) spread in Russia. Russia is one of the most affected country for COVID-19 and significant death cases were recorded. A continuous seven-month data from 31 January to 23 August 2020 from different locations in the country was collected through the commonly available websites. COVID data (total cases (966189), daily new cases (11656), daily deaths (232), and total recovered (777960)) and meteorological parameters (temperature, dew, precipitation, humidity, and wind speed) were used for this analysis. The results show an increasing trend of daily new cases and daily deaths during lock down period, and it gradually decreased or stabilized in the post lock down period. It infers the effectiveness of movement control during the lock down period, that stops further spreading. The positive correlation between COVID cases and temperature indicate that the increase of temperature increases the spreading and vice versa. The negative relationship of humidity with death cases also facilitates the pandemic spread. Thus, the outcome of this study may help to address concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic among the public and policymakers.