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Why does India, with over a billion people, have so few Covid-19 cases and deaths?
MSN ^ | 04/16/2020 | Anup Malani

Posted on 04/26/2020 10:31:23 AM PDT by SeekAndFind

India is four times more populous than the US, but has just 2% the number of cases and only 1.5% of the number of Covid-19 deaths. How has the country, whose per capita income is just tenth of the US, avoided being flattened by the pandemic?

There are four possible explanations:

1. The epidemic may have struck later than in other countries. Since epidemics have exponential growth at the start, a small delay can have massive effects on the number of cases.

2. India’s 21-day lockdown may have successfully suppressed the epidemic. Physical distancing is one of the best ways to slow the epidemic and, if anything, many have criticized the lockdown for being too draconian in that regard.

3. India has not been able to test enough to count all cases and deaths. Without sufficient testing, many deaths may not be labeled with Covid-19 for official statistics, leading to an underestimation of the severity of the crisis.

4. India may have protective characteristics against Covid-19. Researchers have proposed that the low share of elderly in the population, the high temperatures and humidity in India, widespread BCG vaccination for tuberculosis, or resistance to malaria have helped India escape the brunt of the pandemic.

First, we can rule out that India is in an early stage of the pandemic. The first infected travelers from Wuhan reached Kerala, southwest India, on January 29. While it is true that Kerala acted quickly and contained a potential outbreak, more carriers reached other states by early March.

(Excerpt) Read more at msn.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: covid19; india
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To: SeekAndFind

Doesn’t Brazil have similar weather and demographic conditions as India?

But Brazil has multiples more deaths.

India implemented a lockdown while Brazil didn’t


101 posted on 05/03/2020 10:45:58 PM PDT by Cronos (Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
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To: Cowboy Bob

Neither is Brazil, nor italy. But the latter have many more deaths


102 posted on 05/03/2020 10:46:43 PM PDT by Cronos (Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
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To: SecAmndmt

That’s a good point, they are mostly vegetarian, so perhaps that’s the way out.

Also turmeric, chilli etc are antibacterial, dunno what effect if any on viruses.

Brazil isn’t vegetarian


103 posted on 05/03/2020 10:48:33 PM PDT by Cronos (Re-elect President Trump 2020!)
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