gayathryrm.Data Science Researcher
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Environmental health

Climate, air quality & COVID-19

Published · 2026

Why do environmental conditions relate to outbreaks differently across cities? This study compared Daegu and Seoul during January–July 2020, examining nine weather and air-quality factors alongside COVID-19 case counts.

Research approach

Generalized additive models captured nonlinear associations; clustering and risk-zone analysis explored combinations of environmental conditions.

Key findings

  • Full-data explained deviance was 63.0% in Daegu and 48.3% in Seoul.
  • Climate-related patterns were more prominent in Daegu; pollutant-related associations were important in Seoul.
  • The analysis supports locally tailored environmental surveillance. These observational associations do not establish causation.
Published contour plots comparing temperature, humidity, and COVID-19 case counts in Daegu and Seoul
Figure 5: temperature–humidity patterns and COVID-19 cases in the two cities. Reproduced without modification from Menon et al., BMC Public Health (2026). Source · CC BY-NC-ND 4.0. Select the image to view it at full size.

Publication

Measuring the impact of climate and air quality on COVID-19 transmission dynamics: a tale of two cities in pandemic preparedness

Gayathry R. Menon, Sayooj Aby Jose, Asaph Young Chun, Anuwat Jirawattanapanit & Hsuan-Wei Lee

BMC Public Health · 26, 2374

Read the full paper

Summary prepared from the linked publication. The full article provides the complete methods, results, and limitations.

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