Temperature drop link to COVID-19 surge likely: Maha official

A sudden drop in temperature lastweek in some parts of Maharashtra may have caused a spike inCOVID-19 cases, a senior health official said on Friday.

Temperatures in east Vidarbha started dipping due tomoisture coming from the Bay of Bengal and this may have''helped the virus to spread with more speed, increasing thenumber of COVID-19 cases'', he claimed.

However, non adherence to outbreak protocol alsoplayed a significant role in the case surge, the official, oncondition of anonymity, added.

''The IMD, in its a predictions for February, hadcommunicated to the Centre of possible jump in COVID-19 casesif temperatures drop in the same period,'' he said, adding thatdrop in the mercury level should not be seen as the solereason behind the spike in cases.

''Akola, Amravati, Yavatmal, Buldana, Wardha and Nagpurare the six districts (in Vidarbha) that have reported asteady rise in coronavirus figures. The other two districtswhere cases have surged are Mumbai and Pune, though this couldbe due to migration, not maintaining COVID-19 protocol likewearing masks etc,'' the official said.

He said 75 samples each from Akola and Yavatmal and100 from Amravati have been sent to NIV, Pune to check if thevirus had mutated.