Will Novel Coronavirus Go Hard in Winter Season?

KARACHI: As the mercury level is dropping across the country with the advent of the winter season, the novel coronavirus is honing too with the graph of daily cases going up in Pakistan. However, on contrary, a general perception is that the virus would die naturally as the weather will get more chilly.

In this regard, the Head of the Medicine Department at Ziauddin Hospital in Karachi, Dr Ali Raza told News360 that it would be too early to say that change in weather would eradicate virus or not.

He said that the pandemic virus surfaced just last year and the research on it was still underway.

As per details, the novel coronavirus broke out in the Chinese city of Wuhan in mid-December last year. Until now, it has infected around 450 million people globally while over 1.17 million have succumbed to it.

The pandemic virus broke out in Pakistan in March this year. However, with no elementary proof, the health experts had suggested that the change in weather would eradicate the virus.

As of now, Dr Ali Raza, while exclusively talking to News360, said that most of the viruses that enter the body through mouth or nose usually remain alive only under certain weather conditions.

However, he added that it is too early to say whether it would apply to novel coronavirus.

The medical practitioner recalled that the infection rate rose across the country during June and July.

However, he added that the monsoon rainfall forced the settlement of dust particles on the ground owing to which it became hard for the virus to survive.

Then, the lockdown was imposed while it was supplemented by more rains. All this combined grappled the virus from spreading, Dr Raza said.

“It will be difficult to enforce and ensure a lockdown once again but not impossible”.He gave the example of China which was clobbered by the pandemic virus but it was controlled by the imposition of strict lockdown. The same was imitated in New Zealand and can happen in Pakistan too, the medical practitioner said.

“In Pakistan, it is thus an uphill task to maintain social distancing protocols but still, places of mass gatherings including malls, restaurants, and other recreational sites could be closed to stem virus spread”, the expert said.

What does research say?

Corona is part of a family of epidemic viruses called “enveloped viruses. These are viruses that are wrapped around something. This means that they have a smooth layer called a lipid bilayer, which has nucleus-like proteins attached to the crown of a king or queen. In Latin, the crown is called corona.

According to research on such viruses, this fat layer becomes their weakness in the heat. But in winter, this layer hardens and becomes like rubber.

That is why this layer protects the virus for a long time in winter while it melts in summer. That is why most viruses with such layers are affected by the weather.

Kate Templeton, associated with Center for Disease Research at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, also conducted a study ten years ago.

Research has shown that three different types of corona viruses are related to the cold season.

How to avoid corona in winter?

Researchers at the University of Washington School of Medicine in the United States say that if 95% of people use masks, it can help prevent the pandemic.

Research in many countries, not just the United States, has shown that masks can prevent disease from invading.

When the virus begins to enter the body, the mask obstruct it. The mask actually acts as a protector.