The people in India are not physically immune to the coronavirus disease Covid-19, they are mentally immune, China’s top infectious disease expert has said.
“I once saw on news a religious gathering in India where people were not wearing masks. It’s not like Indians are physically immune to Covid-19, they are mentally immune,” Zhang Wenhong told Chinese students in India during an online video interaction arranged by the Chinese embassy on Wednesday.
“The Indians have their peaceful mind,” said Zhang, a leading figure in China’s Covid-19 strategy. He is the director of Huashan Hospital’s Department of Infectious Disease in Shanghai.
Zhang also said that though the number of infections is increasing in India, it is far below the level in the United States.
“We are seeing an increase in terms of number of confirmed cases in India. Right now, the number of confirmed cases in India is increasing, but India has a larger population than the United States so the infection rate is actually lower than India,” said Zhang.
Zhang also said that infection in India will not increase more than 10 per cent. “So, 90 per cent of people around you are clean from the virus,” he assured Chinese students.
More than 23,000 people have been infected by the Sars-CoV-2 virus, and 718 have died in India, according to the Union health ministry data on Friday morning.
With 17,610 active cases, 4,749 people cured or migrated and 718 deaths, India’s Covid-19 tally reached 23,077, according to the health ministry’s dashboard at 8 am.
The figures have come on the 31st day of a national lockdown to halt the spread of the disease, which has infected 2,708,470 people and killed 1,90,788 across the world.
