COVID-19 likely to become seasonal: UN

New Delhi, Mar 18: COVID-19 appears to develop into a seasonal disease, the United Nations said on Thursday. The UN also cautioned against relaxing pandemic related measures simply based on meteorological factors.

A 16 member team which was set up by the UN World Meteorological Organisation pointed out that respiratory viral infections are often seasonal. The report said that this is in particular during the autumn winter peak for influenza and cold causing coronavirus in temperate climates.

"This has fuelled expectations that, if it persists for many years, Covid-19 will prove to be a strongly seasonal disease," a statement read.

Task team co-chair Ben Zaitchik of the earth and planetary sciences department at The John Hopkins University in the United States said 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.

He also said that during the first year of the pandemic, infections in some places rose in warm seasons and there is and there is no evidence that this could not happen again in the coming year.