I find India (and other developing countries in Asia) to be very interesting case studies. While we in the west undertook stringent lockdowns, having visited India multiple times, I can never believe you'd be able to lockdown a country like India. It's impossible. Serology results taken mid-year proved this. Places like Mumbai, Pune and other large cities showed 50%+ of the population had COVID antibodies.
The latest I could find on serology tests for India suggests 20% of the population has contracted COVID. That's 280 million people. Now India has 155k confirmed deaths attributed to COVID which would give you an IFR of 0.055%! Dare I say it, COVID has been less lethal than the flu in India.
This chimes with what I have been hearing and reading of countries in Africa who are unable, for reasons of financial reality, of shutting themselves down: covid is not "letting rip" through the populations and the casualty rates are on a par with affluent western countries that have indulged in self-harm.
Add to the mix that these countries do not have the levels of general healthcare available in Western Europe and the comparison is even more damning against lockdown policies.
And also add, in many of these countries, the vaccine is an expensive option and few of them are able to either (a) source enough of it or (b) make it available free or at affordable prices to their populations.
I read something on FB that is somewhat damning (trigger alert) but funny, a point that Indian's using their left hand and no toilet paper had done much to build immunity. I'm sure the same is true of Africa. They have much stronger gut microbiomes than we do and also consume a lot more fibre in their diets.
It's no wonder Covid has been a rich man's disease and your average Brit has no doubt weakened his own immune system by avoiding necessary contact with the myriad viruses and bacteria out in the environment. It will be a tricky path going back to freedom. My suggestion would be for extra handshakes and hugs to spread and receive that viral information. That's how our immune system works but I know our community knows that.
