A Correlation Method for Meteorological Factors and Air pollution in association to covid-19 pandemic in the most affected city in Indonesia

Abstract

This study aims to validate the correlation between meteorological factors and air pollution with the spread of Covid-19 in Jakarta, Indonesia. This study examined the Covid-19 cases of Jakarta and its five municipalities. The secondary data of Covid-19 cases, includes Daily Positive Cases (DPC) and Total Daily Positive Cases (TDPC), were retrieved from the Health Office of DKI Jakarta Province, while the meteorological and air pollution parameters were obtained from the online database archives. Kendall and Spearman rank correlation tests were used to analyze correlation between DPC and TDPC with meteorological and air pollution parameters. This study found that Air Quality Index and PM10 showed a significant positive correlation with DPC in municipalities of Jakarta. Also, the average air temperature was positively correlated to TDPC in all region of Jakarta. Average air temperature, Air Quality Index, and PM10 were the factors that take into account for the spread of Covid-19 pandemic in Jakarta, Indonesia. The warmer temperature associated to the higher number of case. Thus, there are no indications that the spread of Covid-19 in subtropical or temperate country may decrease when entering a warmer season that resembles the climatic characteristics in tropical region. Additionally, the significance of air pollutant factors implies that reducing air pollution should be promoted as it might reduce the spread of Covid-19. The findings of this study would be useful to support the strategy and policy in preventing the spread of Covid-19 in the country.