  The current COVID-19 pandemic is having detrimental consequences worldwide.
The pandemic started to develop strongly by the end of January and beginning of
February 2020, first in China with subsequent rapid spread to other countries
with new epicenters of the outbreaks concentrated mainly within the 30-50
degrees North latitudinal band (e.g., South Korea, Japan, Iran, Italy, Spain).
Simultaneously, an unusual persistent anticyclonic situation prevailing at
latitudes around 40 degrees North was observed on global scale, in line with an
anomalously strong positive phase of the Arctic Oscillation. This atypical
situation could have resulted in favorable meteorological conditions for a
quicker spread of the virus over the latitude band detailed above. This
possible connection needs further attention in order to understand the
meteorological and climatological factors related to the COVID-19 outbreak, and
for anticipating the spatio-temporal distribution of possible future pandemics.
