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TOKYO – A lingering mystery of the Covid-19 pandemic is why countries in East Asia have seen far fewer cases and deaths than the United States and Europe.
Some doctors and scientists are starting to take a closer look at the theories that some people in East Asia and Southeast Asia have had different exposure to previous coronaviruses resembling the SARS-CoV-2 virus sweeping the world. Such exposure could have prevented them from falling ill with Covid-19 or lessened the severity of the disease.
Others doubt that the immune system of people in the region differs from that of the rest of the world in a systematic way. They suspect cultural factors, and in some countries government policies such as strictly enforced quarantines play the leading role.
Either way, doctors agree that an explanation is needed as to why Japan, South Korea, China, Vietnam, Taiwan, Malaysia, and Singapore have all experienced at most a few thousand new infections with the virus. SARS-CoV-2 per day, even during the current outbreak. . That compares to tens of thousands of daily cases in many European countries and more than 150,000 new cases over several days in the United States.
Yasuhiro Suzuki pondered the issue as the top-ranking medical officer in the Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare until his retirement in August.
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