Impact of Lockdown Measures and Meteorological Parameters on the COVID-19 Incidence and Mortality Rate in Bangladesh

Abstract

Abstract. The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic has become a public health crisis and a global catastrophe for human societies. In the absence of a vaccine, non-pharmaceutical interventions have been implemented across the world to reduce COVID-19 transmission. Recently, several studies have articulated the influence of meteorological parameters on COVID-19 infections in several countries. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of lockdown measures and meteorological parameters on COVID-19 daily confirmed cases and deaths in Bangladesh. Different parameters, such as case fatality rate, recovery rate, number of polymerase chain reaction tests, and percentages of confirmed cases were calculated for data covering March to September 2020. The meteorological data include daily average temperature, humidity, and wind speed, and their effects on COVID-19 data were analyzed after 0, 3, 7, and 14 days. A linear regression analysis revealed that all the studied meteorological parameters were positively correlated with the daily new cases and deaths in Bangladesh, while the highest correlations were observed for the 14 days incubation period. These results provide useful implications for the healthcare authorities to contain the pandemic in Bangladesh and beyond.