Based on how many people of Indian, Pakistani and Bangladeshi descent are dying in the UK there is no indication that people form the Indian subcontinent have some genetic resiliency or immunity to the virus.
Also, how quickly the cases have been spreading through Singaporean's Foreign Worker Dormitories. I believe at some point, there were more Bangladeshis confirmed infected in Singapore than in Bangladesh.
SARS and MERS did not provide immunity against each other nor against SARS2.
There is no indication that other common coronavirus infections such as those that cause 10-30% of common cold cases world wide provide any immunity to the current virus.
Also given the sheer size of India it’s unlikely that there would be a pathogen that provides immunity on this scale that would not have been identified previously since it would end up causing complications and deaths in some infections even if at much lower rates than previous epidemics.
If it also managed to spread across India It would’ve also spread worldwide.
Lastly like someone else mentioned migrants native to the region where hit pretty hard everywhere else.
Indian, living in India presently, who lived in the US for almost a decade. I can relate a strange experience: I was never severely bedridden by flu or viral fever in India. I caught the flu during my stay in the US one February. I was so weak I could not even sit up in a chair for more than 15 minutes, I would doze off. I was in my bed for practically 5 days, was weak for a couple of weeks afterwards.
I am back in India for a decade, never had such an experience again.
As you say, genetics is definitely not the reason for immunity or lower death rates. But I wonder whether human immunity is much lower coming out of the winter. India does not have severe subzero celsius winter except in the hills.
Because you are likely more resilient to local strains.
Getting a flu / cold or the "shits" when traveling is very common, many westerners that travel to india and suffer some gastric discomfort blame the food for no real reason (tho ghee can have a cleansing effect if you over eat it).
Could this be related to your levels of Vitamin D. I am not a doctor but since this pandemic, I have read some articles that suggests that people with black/brown skin need a lot more exposure to the sun to get good levels of Vitamin D with the situation getting worse during winter. That coupled with your stay in a colder country could have been the reason.
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