Posted on 05/18/2020 9:12:14 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
India long has been seen as a land of mystery, and with respect to the COVID-19 pandemic, the South Asian nation is keeping with that tradition.
The number of coronavirus cases in India have been surprisingly low, given the country’s huge and highly dense population and its poverty levels. Experts are puzzled, but they think there are a number of factors that could be contributing to the low infection rates.
“Unfortunately, we don’t have a solid answer,” Jeff Smith, South Asia research fellow at The Heritage Foundation, told The Daily Signal in an email. He said it’s possible the low numbers can be attributed to some of India’s “protective characteristics, including climate, that has insulated it from some of the worst effects.”
India’s population is more than 1.3 billion people, second only to China’s 1.4 billion. Johns Hopkins and Worldometer both place the number of COVID-19 cases in India at 85,784, compared with China, which has reported 82,933 cases, as of May 15. The United States has seen nearly 1.48 million cases within its comparatively smaller population estimated at 328 million.
Anup Malani, a professor at the University of Chicago Law School and at the Pritzker School of Medicine, in a recent Quartz India article offered explanations as to why India might not have experienced a higher number of coronavirus-related cases and deaths.
“Your age may play a role in both your probability of getting infected and in the degree to which you are going to have symptoms,” Malani said in a phone interview with The Daily Signal, adding that there’s a very strong “correlation between age and how severe our symptoms are, and particularly probability of death, given the symptoms.”
Overall, India’s population is quite young. “In India, only 0.8% of the population is above 80,
(Excerpt) Read more at dailysignal.com ...
* Among the nearly 88,000 COVID-19 cases in India, there have been about 2,750 recorded deaths.
* Nearly 75% of India's population are below the age of 40
* India’s climate is another factor that scientists are considering. Viruses are less likely to spread in warmer weather, and India’s relative proximity to the equator means the nation’s temperatures are quite hot year-round.
* India has not tested its population as broadly as other nations, Even now, India is still lagging in testing while other nations, such as the United States, continue to increase testing. It is quite possible there’s a large amount of COVID cases in India that have gone unreported.
* Another theory is that the immune system of the average individual in India is better equipped to fight COVID-19. The malaria vaccine referred to as BCG in India, or hydroxychloroquine in the U.S., is universally administered in India. One possibility is that when you get vaccinated for BCG, the nature of that vaccination is such that it triggers your body to be reactive or responsive to many different diseases.
* Some also think that India’s stringent lockdown measure kept the virus from spreading rampantly across the nation
Brazil has most of those same characteristics and has been hit hard.
Wasn’t quinine first used in India? By the British soldiers.
I think the biggest issue is that India is Malaria country and they’re used to taking BCG or Hydroxy with no fear. Same goes with African countries and Australia, NZ.
They bathe in the Ganges, the same place where they defecate and send their dead down river. Their immune systems are in overdrive.
Well THAT would explain it.
why? All kinds of smoking everywhere.....
Don’t they poop in the streets there? (Like in San Francisco, which also has a low COVID-19 death rate.)
India enjoys cholera more.
The growth rate is exponential in India - 2K per day 2 weeks ago. Now 5K cases per day.
That warm weather stuff was merely a theory and scientists oppose it now.
How about “obese people are in more danger” and millions of Indians are underweight?
Best outcome: some spice found in typical Indian dishes kills the Covid in its tracks. We can dream.
BCG is bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a live attenuated strain of Mycobacterium bovis
It is used in the prevention of Tuberculosis but it does boost the immune system.
Speaking of India...
https://www.wired.com/story/india-covid-19-contract-tracing-app-patient-location-privacy/
Hmmm.
I think quinine was discovered in the Amazon jungle by one of the Spanish conquistadors.
RE: The growth rate is exponential in India - 2K per day 2 weeks ago. Now 5K cases per day.
Seeing how a vast majority of cases ( especially among the young ) are ASYMPTOMATIC, and seeing how young India’s population is, I’m less concerned with infection than MORTALITY RATE. How is India’s mortality rate?
You can’t keep hiding from the virus forever. This virus is with us and will be with us permanently. What we need is develop IMMUNITY to it like the world did with the Spanish fly of 1918-20 and the Hong Kong flu of 1968-70.
Most Indians have supercharged immune systems. At any given moment there are no fewer than 15 diseases worst than this one circulating there.
Also those who can afford to take HCQ there to guard against malaria.
Thanks for the clarification. I had interpreted the “or” to mean BCG was HCQ. I wondered why they referred to it as a “vaccine”.
Universal administration of HCQ especially if the Indians are getting enough zinc in their diet would explain the fewer cases.
Not sure about the effects of BCG.
CURRY.
IT’S THE CURRY!!!!!
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