The United Nations said on Thursday
that COVID-19 was likely to develop into a seasonal disease, though advising
against relaxing pandemic-related measures solely on meteorological factors at
the same time. With emergence of the outbreak first traced back to December,
2019 in China’s Wuhan, the viral disease till now has killed almost 2.7 million
people globally, AFP reported.

A 16-member team of United Nation’s
World Meteorological Organisation, however, while studying the meteorological
and air quality influences on the virus, noted that “the autumn-winter peak for
influenza and cold-causing coronaviruses in temperate climates” are often
seasonal, leading them to expect the same for coronavirus based on modelling
studies.

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“This has fuelled expectations
that, if it persists for many years, Covid-19 will prove to be a strongly
seasonal disease,” AFP quoted the team as saying in a statement.

Although, calls for continued
restrictions came from the team, as they observed that transmission rates were
affected considerably by preventive measures such as wearing masks and imposing
travel restrictions, rather than weather conditions.

“At this stage, evidence does not
support the use of meteorological and air quality factors as a basis for
governments to relax their interventions aimed at reducing transmission,”
AFP quoted Ben Zaitchik, co-chair to the Earth and Planetary Sciences
Department in US’ John Hopkins University as saying.

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Zaitchik pointed out that infections rose
in some places even during the warmer climates in 2020, and said there was no evidence
at hand to affirm “that this couldn’t happen again in the coming year”.