Coronavirus could become a seasonal disease, with people at greater risk of contracting it during winter, warn Australian researchers after their study showed lower humidity may lead to a significant increase in cases.

The study conducted in NSW during the early stages of the COVID-19 epidemic found an association between lower humidity and an increase in locally acquired positive cases.

Researchers at the University of Sydney and Fudan University in Shanghai in China discovered a 1% decrease in humidity could increase the number of COVID-19 cases by 6%. 

“COVID-19 is likely to be a seasonal disease that recurs in periods of lower humidity. We need to be thinking if it’s winter time, it could be COVID-19 time,” epidemiologist and lead researcher Professor Michael Ward said on Tuesday.