An overwhelming majority of coronavirus cases globally have occurred in resource-poor countries, noted Joseph Lewnard, an epidemiologist at the University of California, Berkeley, who led the study. In particular, he added, few studies anywhere have done contact tracing at the scale of the study. The patients in India may deteriorate faster because of other underlying conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure or poor overall health, Lewnard said. “India has been the nexus of the most cases recorded for the last three, four weeks,” Shaman said. “We can’t just study it in a few countries and then walk away.”© 2020 The New York Times Company

Source: bd News24 September 30, 2020 19:07 UTC