Transmission in home environment associated with the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India

Liwei Tang; Min Liu; Bingyu Ren; Jinghong Chen; Xinwei Liu; Xilin Wu; Weiren Huang; Jing Tian

doi:10.1016/j.envres.2021.111910

Transmission in home environment associated with the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India

Environ Res. 2022 Mar;204(Pt A):111910. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2021.111910. Epub 2021 Aug 28.

Authors

Liwei Tang¹, Min Liu², Bingyu Ren³, Jinghong Chen¹, Xinwei Liu¹, Xilin Wu⁴, Weiren Huang⁵, Jing Tian⁶

Affiliations

¹ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology and Ecology, College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China.
² Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology and Ecology, College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China; Shenzhen Bay Laboratory, Shenzhen, 518055, Guangdong, China; International Cancer Center, Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China.
³ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology and Ecology, College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China; Shenzhen-Hong Kong Institute of Brain Science-Shenzhen Fundamental Research Institutions, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China.
⁴ Department of Neurology, Fujian Medical University Union Hospital Fujian Key Laboratory of Molecular Neurology, Fuzhou, Fu Jian, 350001, China.
⁵ International Cancer Center, Health Science Center, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China; Department of Urology, Shenzhen Institute of Translational Medicine, the First Affiliated Hospital of Shenzhen University, Shenzhen Second People's Hospital, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518035, China; Shenzhen Institute of Synthetic Biology, Shenzhen Institutes of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shenzhen, Guangdong, 518055, China.
⁶ Shenzhen Key Laboratory of Marine Biotechnology and Ecology, College of Life Sciences and Oceanography, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, 518060, China. Electronic address: jtian@szu.edu.cn.

Abstract

India has suffered from the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic since March 2021. This wave of the outbreak has been more serious than the first wave pandemic in 2020, which suggests that some new transmission characteristics may exist. COVID-19 is transmitted through droplets, aerosols, and contact with infected surfaces. Air pollutants are also considered to be associated with COVID-19 transmission. However, the roles of indoor transmission in the COVID-19 pandemic and the effects of these factors in indoor environments are still poorly understood. Our study focused on reveal the role of indoor transmission in the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India. Our results indicated that human mobility in the home environment had the highest relative influence on COVID-19 daily growth rate in the country. The COVID-19 daily growth rate was significantly positively correlated with the residential percent rate in most state-level areas in India. A significant positive nonlinear relationship was found when the residential percent ratio ranged from 100 to 120%. Further, epidemic dynamics modelling indicated that a higher proportion of indoor transmission in the home environment was able to intensify the severity of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic in India. Our findings suggested that more attention should be paid to the indoor transmission in home environment. The public health strategies to reduce indoor transmission such as ventilation and centralized isolation will be beneficial to the prevention and control of COVID-19.

Keywords: COVID-19; Health risk; Human mobility; Indoor environment; Indoor transmission.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

COVID-19*
Home Environment
Humans
India / epidemiology
Pandemics*
SARS-CoV-2
Ventilation