Sunlight, Humidity may Help Kill Coronavirus: The coronavirus appears to weaken more quickly when exposed to sunlight, heat and humidity, a U.S. official said on Thursday in a potential sign that the pandemic could become less contagious in summer months.

William Bryan, the acting head of the Science and Technology Directorate at the Department of Homeland Security, presented where he stated that “emerging results” that showed that the virus within droplets of saliva survives best in indoor and dry conditions.

“Our most striking observation to date is the powerful effect that solar light appears to have on killing the virus, both surfaces and in the air. We’ve seen a similar effect with both temperature and humidity as well, where increasing the temperature and humidity or both are generally less favorable to the virus,” Bryan said.

The findings could bolster hopes that the coronavirus will mimic the behavior of other respiratory diseases like influenza, which typically are less contagious in warm weather.

But the coronavirus has also proven lethal in warm-weather places like Singapore, raising broader questions about the impact of environmental factors.

DHS did not immediately respond to a request to share the research for review. Some preliminary studies have suggested that hotter temperatures could be unfavorable to the spread of the virus. However, the virus still spread in countries in which it was summer.

President Donald Trump asked task force member Deborah Birx if it’s possible to use light and heat to kill the virus in people. She(Deborah Birx) in-response, said it’s not something she is aware of, but added that fever is a “good thing” that helps a body respond to infection.

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.“I hope people enjoy the sun, and if that has an impact, that’s great,” Trump said.

Trump has been saying the outbreak would ease by summer. He said at Wednesday’s briefing that only “embers” of the coronavirus might remain to be put out in the fall and winter. He added that it is possible the virus won’t be present at all in the fall, but infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci later in the briefing indicated that he is “convinced” the virus will be around in the fall.

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.More than 874,000 people in the United States are known to have been infected and over 49,600 have died of COVID-19, the highly contagious respiratory illness caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a Reuters tally.