The impact of temperature on the transmissibility and virulence of COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan

Assessing the impact of temperature on COVID-19 epidemiology is critical for implementing non-pharmaceutical interventions. However, few studies have accounted for the nature of contagious diseases, i.e., their dependent happenings. We aimed to quantify the impact of temperature on the transmissibility and virulence of COVID-19 in Tokyo, Japan, employing two epidemiological measurements of transmissibility and severity: the effective reproduction number ( $$R_{t}$$R t ) and case fatality risk (CFR). We estimated the $$R_{t}$$R t and time-delay adjusted CFR and to subsequently assess the nonlinear and delayed effect of temperature on $$R_{t}$$R t and time-delay adjusted CFR. For $$R_{t}$$R t at low temperatures, the cumulative relative risk (RR) at the first temperature percentile (3.3 °C) was 1.3 (95% confidence interval (CI): 1.1–1.7). As for the virulence to humans, moderate cold temperatures were associated with higher CFR, and CFR also increased as the temperature rose. The cumulative RR at the 10th and 99th percentiles of temperature (5.8 °C and 30.8 °C) for CFR were 3.5 (95% CI: 1.3–10.0) and 6.4 (95% CI: 4.1–10.1). Our results suggest the importance to take precautions to avoid infection in both cold and warm seasons to avoid severe cases of COVID-19. The results and our proposed approach will also help in assessing the possible seasonal course of COVID-19 in the future.