The curious case of South Asia's 'low' coronavirus deaths

[LiberalArkie]

Islamabad, Pakistan - Scientists and public health experts are continuing to conduct research into why some South Asian countries - despite their ramshackle health infrastructure and dense populations - have witnessed lower coronavirus mortality rates compared with many Western countries.

By early May, the world's richest countries accounted for more than 90 percent of all reported deaths from COVID-19, according to a paper published in The Lancet medical journal. Adding China, Brazil and Iran to that list takes the number up to 96 percent.

By contrast, many densely populated developing countries in South Asia and parts of Africa have fared far better when it comes to the mortality rate from COVID-19, data from Johns Hopkins University (JHU) shows.

In Europe, the observed case fatality ratio (CFR, or the percentage of deaths among confirmed coronavirus patients) has been high, with France reporting a rate of 15.2 percent, the United Kingdom 14.4 percent, Italy 14 percent and Spain 11.9 percent, according to JHU data. In the United States, the CFR is 6 percent, the data shows.



More

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/05/curious-case-south-asia-coronavirus-deaths-200518090320358.html

[mr_lebowski]

1. My initial guess would be that a disease w/similar traits already circulates in that area

leading to greater ability to fight it off?

Less overweight people with better diets?

A lot of smokers, and nicotine actually does help?

[lettucebe]

2. Diet related perhaps? Our nation's food supply been severely nutrient devoid for decades

Here's hoping there are plenty of studies on this sort of thing. The corporate greed in this country has turned our food supply into a fake food supply. Plastic, wood. What are we eating, really?

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

3. The article suggests, among other things,

that a much younger overall population may be a factor.

As for the one report that nicotine might possibly provide some kind of protection, the fact that smoking does bad things to your lungs is no doubt going to vastly outweigh any kind of protection the intake of nicotine might provide.

[crickets]

4. Look at all the masks.

Younger population, climate, who knows what factors affect the numbers at this point? Despite reassurances in the article, data accuracy is bound to be an issue.

Still, the one constant in each photo is that almost everyone is wearing a mask. Wear your masks, people.