Impact of climate change on SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in China

therefore, it has a westerly inland arid climate. Different climatic zones exhibit different weather characteristics, and the rich weather characteristics in China are beneficial for investi- gating the effects of weather factors on the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak (as shown in Fig 1). The SARS-CoV-2 epidemic spread worldwide, which significantly affected the economies and lives of people in various countries. Various policy strategies have been developed in regions in response to address this crisis. China’s active and effective epidemic prevention efforts as well as timely macro-policy adjustments have inhibited the spread of the outbreak initially. However, China’s diverse climate, large and dense population, and complex living environment rendered the prevention and control of the outbreak more difficult, and the cur- rent problems have not yet been solved. Data sources Time interval. The SARS-CoV-2 growth rate (GR) of each provincial administrative region for year 2020 is shown in S1 Fig. The epidemic stabilized gradually around April 30, i.e., its rate of change increased or decreased less. The proportion of SARS-CoV-2’s zero GR in 2020 to the statistical data of all provinces in China, which show cyclical changes, is presented in Fig 2. Data from the first cycle for analysis, i.e., from January 20 to April 30, 2020 (a total of 101 days), were selected. This cycle was a period of high epidemic incidence and was affected less by policies and regulations. Furthermore, human control was less, and the analysis results

of the epidemic GR and climatic factors in this cycle showed relatively objective and accurate results. Epidemic data. Statistics pertaining to SARS-CoV-2 were obtained from the official web- site of the National Health Commission of the People’s Republic of China, including the cumula- tive number of confirmed, newly confirmed, existing confirmed, cured, newly cured, death, and recent death cases. The primary indicator used in this study was the cumulative number of confirmed cases (Confirmed). Population data. The total population was obtained from the China Statistical Yearbook (2020), which was based on the population at the end of 2019. The 2019 population density data obtained from LandScan were used [32]. Weather data. Weather data were obtained from the ERA5 reanalysis product of the European Center for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts (ECMWF) with a spatial resolution of Fig 1. Study area. No data regions: Tibet, Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285179.g001 PLOS ONE Impact of climate change on SARS-CoV-2 epidemic in China PLOS ONE | https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0285179 July 27, 2023 3 / 21