RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA (Reuters) – The coronavirus outbreak is landing in Brazil as the hot summer days in the southern hemisphere draw to a close and winter approaches, potentially worsening the spread of the virus, medical experts told Reuters.
Little is known about how changes in seasonal weather affect the new coronavirus, which has sparked a snowballing global crisis. Nonetheless, six infectious disease experts in Brazil said that past outbreaks in the country, including the 2009 H1N1 swine flu pandemic, point to colder temperatures exacerbating contagion.
Brazil is already the hardest hit country in Latin America, with 621 confirmed cases by Thursday – more than doubling in two days.
Although much of Brazil is tropical, monthly temperatures in parts of the south and southeast can average 5-6 degrees Celsius (41°F-43°F) in June and July. Temperatures start falling in April, when flu infections tend to rise, experts said.
“There’s never a good moment for the coronavirus to arrive… but this is not a good moment,” said Maria da Gloria Teixeira, an epidemiologist at the Federal University of Bahia.
The concerns are echoed in other southern hemisphere countries. Australia has had a similar number of con