Coronavirus Disease Incidence Resonance with Coastline Dynamics: An Evaluation on Global Resurgence of the Pandemic

Abstract

Introduction: Many studies were done earlier to understand the role of climatic, environmental, and sociodemographic factors in the transmission, spread, and viability of SARS-CoV-2. Objectives: While there are principal climatic factors that influence the transmission and spread, specific factors such as latitude and water body mass are not critically examined. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the role of latitude and heat flux from water body mass in coastal environs on the resurgence and incidence of COVID. Methodology: A study was conducted examining the cases reported per million population, latitude degrees, and coastline length in two criteria groups (n = 120 and 10) spanning five geographic continental regions. The collected data were statistically analyzed to validate the three prepositions of the study. Findings: The cases reported per million population were least in countries lying below 25˚-degree latitude, and countries in this range have the mean highest coastline length. Our analysis in the n = 120 group reveals a moderate relationship among rises in cases with latitude degrees (r = 0.425, p < 0.01, n =120) but is associated negatively with coastline length. From the top countries having the longest coastline length, the association among the variables reveals a weak relationship exists between cases and latitude (r = 0.356, p = 0.312, n = 10), while no correlation is observed with coastline length. Novelty:A rise in the incidence rate and the global resurgence of cases can be explained by previous researchers considering climatic variables and socio-demographic factors. However, other parameters, such as the latent heat of evaporation from water body mass in coastal zones in different latitudinal countries, on the incidence and resurgence patterns are examined in this study. Observations indicate that the disease incidence trend is not similar across all countries and that no single factor fully influences the rise in cases. Doi: 10.28991/ESJ-2023-07-05-024 Full Text: PDF