A country of 1.3 billion people seems to have just about got the pandemic under control. What explains India's #COVID19 numbers? I ask @MenonBioPhysics @epigiri @swapneilparikh and Dr Jayaprakash Muliyil
https://qz.com/india/1973946/has-india-achieved-herd-immunity-against-coronavirus/ 1/n

The lockdown helped some, as did masks. Universal masking mandates effectively helped reduce the severity of the disease. But there's more. 2/n

As Dr Muliyil says, “In Western countries, life expectancy is greater and people live longer with diseases like diabetes, cancer, or heart conditions. As a result, there are more people living with co-morbidities, thus increases the chances of fatality.” There's another twist 3/n

...Vitamin D. Studies have shown vit D deficiency could lead to more Covid-19 deaths. India's ample sunshine seems to have played a key role in keeping fatalities way below the 4 million estimate. Other sources of immunity could also exist. So is the pandemic over? 4/n

In localised pockets, could well be the case. But also important to remember that ICMR's sero-survey found only 20% of the population with antibodies. There's a large non-urban population that is vulnerable. So we still need to mask up, keep distance, and get the vaccines. 5/5