‘Northeast People More Immune To Covid-19'

High incidence of malaria could be reason why rate of local transmission is low in the region, say health authorities

- Prasanta Mazumdar & Sumi Sukanya Dutta

As the government struggles to arrest the spread of COVID-19, one part of the country could offer grist to researchers in India and perhaps abroad.

The seven states in the Northeast, with 8% of India’s landsize and 3.6% of the total population, not only has a mere 35 confirmed cases of the coronavirus but the rate of local transmission is extremely low, prompting health authorities in the region to believe that perhaps its people are more immune.

About 2,000 people who came in contact with 31 corona patients were tested for COVID-19, the virus that causes SARS CoV 2, and all of them were found negative.

Consider this: Assam has 28 positive cases linked to the Tablighi Jamaat in Delhi. According to Lakshmanan S, Mission Director of the state’s National Health Mission, 1,200-1,300 people who are believed to have come in contact with the 28 Tablighis were tested but all of them were negative.

Similarly, about 500 people were tested for the virus after an infected American tourist went on a seven-day cruise on the Brahmaputra river, stayed at a luxury hotel in Guwahati and at a resort in Jorhat next to the Kazaringa sanctuary. But all of them were negative.