Discovering dependence of covid-19 on weather variables in malaysia

Weather plays a vital role in the transmission of infectious diseases. This study evaluates the correlation between seven weather variables and COVID-19 in Malaysia. Based on the previous literature, there is a lack of information about the influence of COVID-19 pandemic on environmental factors in Malaysia. Spearman rank correlation test was selected to correlate seven weather variables (relative humidity, global radiation, maximum temperature, mean temperature, minimum temperature, rainfall and wind speed) with COVID-19 cases for the period of March 17, 2020 to April 30, 2020. On the national scale assessment, all the seven weather variables showed a non-significant correlation relationship with COVID-19. By dividing Malaysia into sixteen sub-regions, the correlation analysis shows weather had a larger impact on COVID-19 in five regions of Malaysia, mainly in the western, northern and southern parts of Peninsular Malaysia. The findings also indicate that COVID-19 was negatively correlated with relative humidity and rainfall, where a significant relationship was found in major cities such as Penang, Johor and Selangor. Maximum temperature and wind speed were non-significant correlated with COVID-19 in all the evaluated sub-regions, showing these two weather variables may be less important in the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia. In conclusion, relative humidity and global radiation had a larger impact on the COVID-19 outbreak in Malaysia as compared to other weather variables.