Iran was transversed by the Silk Road. Chinese caravans coming out of the deserts and mountains of Asia rest, reprovisioned and dallied in Iran. The Mongols conquered Iran. Southeastern Iran is heavily Asian. The fact is that the population of Iran’s genome has a large Asian contribution. As mentioned by many the region in Italy where the outbreak occurred is heavily populated with Chinese immigrants and Asian workers.
It is useless to merely list the numbers infected. However politically incorrect, it is necessary to know the race, severity of illness and the underlying medical condition of the victims to understand the susceptibility of given populations to this and every other pathogen. The CDC and WHO have this data but for whatever reason are not releasing the information.
Iranians are expected to have Asian genome! Iran IS in Asia, not Europe or Africa.
Smoking also seems to be a risk factor, or was identified as one in an early paper I saw here. Of course, the Chinese smoke like chimneys. Not sure about the Iranians.
You guys need to debate as to whether Asians are more susceptible or more immune.
I don’t buy either argument, so have at it and convince me.