Coronavirus Shows a New Dimension of the World North-South Divide, as Most Infections and Deaths Are North, April 11, 2020

Coronavirus Shows a New Dimension of the World North-South Divide, as Most Infections and Deaths Are North

April 11, 2020

Coronavirus Shows a New Dimension of the World North-South Divide, as Most Infections and Deaths Are North

By Hassan El-Najjar

Al-Jazeerah, CCUN, April 11, 2020, 9:00 am ET

The Coronavirus pandemic has shown a new dimension of the World North-South divide, as most infections and deaths have been happening in the North (See the table below).

The five countries which have most of the deaths and the infections, as a result of the Coronavirus, are the US, Spain, Italy, France, and the UK, respectively. Together, these five countries represent only about 7% of the world population (567 million, in 2018). However, they have about 60% of infection cases (1,027,353) and about 65% of deaths (67,832).

These statistical observations are too important to be neglicted or passed by without discussion, in an attempt to learn something about this virus, which has interrupted human activities around the world, causing big losses in life and treasure.

What's in common among these five countries is that they are in the Northern hemisphere. This means that they have been experiencing a colder weather than other countries in Africa, South Asia, and Latin America, which have few infection and death cases.

Another major difference between these two groups of countries is that the countries in the North are much more wealthy than the other group of countries in the South. This is demonstrated in the annual Gross Niational Income Per Capita (GNI PC), which is about $52,618 in OECD (wealthy) coutries, compared to only about $1,705 in Sub-Saharan Africa.

This type of difference is reflected in the consumption of food, as people in the North consume more meat and more processed foods, while people in poor countries eat much less meat and more vegetables, fruits, and grains.

A third difference is that people in poor countries walk and use their muscles more, on daily basis, than people in wealthy countries, who commute by cars and other means of transportation. This means that people in poor countries actually exercise more.

So, two important questions arise from these factual observations:

First, could the more exercise and less meat diet in poor countries have created a stronger immune system, which has helped people to resist the Coronavirus better?

Second, could the warmer weather in the South be a limiting factor on the ability of the virus to spread there?

More research is needed to explain this North-South Coronavirus phenomenon, for the benefit of humanity.

Sources:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

https://data.oecd.org/natincome/gross-national-income.htm

https://www.macrotrends.net/countries/SSF/sub-saharan-africa-/gni-per-capita

***

Coronavirus Cases: 1,710,817, Deaths: 103,513, Recovered: 382,073

April 11, 2020, 11:36 GMT

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Country, Other	Total Cases	New Cases	Total Deaths	New Deaths	Total Recovered	Active Cases	Serious, Critical	Tot Cases/ 1M pop	Deaths/ 1M pop	Total Tests	Tests/ 1M pop	Continent
World	1,698,835	+94,625	102,684	+6,971	376,184	1,219,967	49,831	218	13.2			All
Europe	820,109	+41,257	70,063	+4,245	196,782	553,264	30,232					Europe
North America	536,841	+36,063	19,822	+2,135	34,452	482,567	11,906					North America
USA	502,876	+33,752	18,747	+2,035	27,314	456,815	10,917	1,519	57	2,538,888	7,670	North America
Asia	275,041	+11,144	10,224	+328	133,960	130,857	6,575					Asia
Spain	158,273	+5,051	16,081	+634	55,668	86,524	7,371	3,385	344	355,000	7,593	Europe
Italy	147,577	+3,951	18,849	+570	30,455	98,273	3,497	2,441	312	906,864	14,999	Europe
France	124,869	+7,120	13,197	+987	24,932	86,740	7,004	1,913	202	333,807	5,114	Europe
Germany	122,171	+3,936	2,736	+129	53,913	65,522	4,895	1,458	33	1,317,887	15,730	Europe
China	81,907	+42	3,336	+1	77,455	1,116	144	57	2			Asia
UK	73,758	+8,681	8,958	+980	344	64,456	1,559	1,086	132	316,836	4,667	Europe
Iran	68,192	+1,972	4,232	+122	35,465	28,495	3,969	812	50	242,568	2,888	Asia
Turkey	47,029	+4,747	1,006	+98	2,423	43,600	1,667	558	12	307,210	3,643	Asia
South America	44,976	+5,371	1,809	+194	4,619	38,548	876					South America
Belgium	26,667	+1,684	3,019	+496	5,568	18,080	1,278	2,301	260	84,248	7,269	Europe
Switzerland	24,551	+500	1,002	+54	11,100	12,449	386	2,837	116	178,500	20,625	Europe
Netherlands	23,097	+1,335	2,511	+115	250	20,336	1,424	1,348	147	101,534	5,926	Europe
Canada	22,148	+1,383	569	+60	6,013	15,566	557	587	15	370,315	9,812	North America
Brazil	19,789	+1,644	1,068	+114	173	18,548	296	93	5	62,985	296	South America
Portugal	15,472	+1,516	435	+26	233	14,804	226	1,517	43	140,863	13,815	Europe
Austria	13,560	+316	319	+24	6,064	7,177	261	1,506	35	134,743	14,961	Europe
Africa	13,539	+659	697	+65	2,237	10,605	153					Africa
Russia	11,917	+1,786	94	+18	795	11,028	8	82	0.6	1,090,000	7,469	Europe
S. Korea	10,450	+27	208	+4	7,117	3,125	55	204	4	503,051	9,812	Asia
Israel	10,408	+440	95	+9	1,183	9,130	124	1,202	11	117,339	13,557	Asia
Sweden	9,685	+544	870	+77	381	8,434	749	959	86	54,700	5,416	Europe
Ireland	8,089	+1,515	287	+24	25	7,777	194	1,638	58	53,000	10,734	Europe
Oceania	7,608	+131	56	+4	3,515	4,037	79					Australia/Oceania
India	7,600	+875	249	+22	774	6,577		6	0.2	189,111	137	Asia
Ecuador	7,161	+2,196	297	+25	368	6,496	171	406	17	21,568	1,222	South America
Chile	6,501	+529	65	+8	1,571	4,865	70	340	3	72,797	3,808	South America
Norway	6,314	+95	113	+5	32	6,169	70	1,165	21	123,170	22,720	Europe
Australia	6,238	+86	54	+3	3,141	3,043	74	245	2	338,346	13,269	Australia/Oceania
Japan	6,005	+658	99		685	5,221	109	47	0.8	64,387	509	Asia
Poland	5,955	+380	181	+7	318	5,456	160	157	5	118,295	3,126	Europe
Peru	5,897	+641	169	+31	1,569	4,159	130	179	5	56,681	1,719	South America
Denmark	5,819	+184	247	+10	1,773	3,799	113	1,005	43	64,731	11,176	Europe
Czechia	5,732	+163	119	+7	346	5,267	98	535	11	114,854	10,725	Europe
Romania	5,467	+265	270	+22	729	4,468	183	284	14	55,430	2,881	Europe
Pakistan	4,695	+206	66	+1	727	3,902	45	21	0.3	54,706	248	Asia
Malaysia	4,346	+118	70	+3	1,830	2,446	69	134	2	69,675	2,153	Asia
Philippines	4,195	+119	221	+18	140	3,834	1	38	2	24,500	224	Asia
Saudi Arabia	3,651	+364	47	+3	685	2,919	57	105	1	115,585	3,320	Asia
Indonesia	3,512	+219	306	+26	282	2,924		13	1	17,679	65	Asia
Mexico	3,441	+260	194	+20	633	2,614	89	27	2	31,492	244	North America
UAE	3,360	+370	16	+2	418	2,926	1	340	2	593,095	59,967	Asia
Luxembourg	3,223	+108	54	+2	500	2,669	30	5,149	86	28,273	45,166	Europe
Serbia	3,105	+238	71	+5	118	2,916	136	355	8	14,240	1,630	Europe
Panama	2,974	+222	74	+8	17	2,883	104	689	17	11,776	2,729	North America
Finland	2,769	+164	48	+6	300	2,421	82	500	9	41,200	7,436	Europe
Dominican Republic	2,620	+271	126	+8	98	2,396	147	242	12	7,936	732	North America
Qatar	2,512	+136	6		227	2,279	37	872	2	45,339	15,737	Asia
Colombia	2,473	+250	80	+11	197	2,196	85	49	2	37,593	739	South America
Thailand	2,473	+50	33	+1	1,013	1,427	61	35	0.5	71,860	1,030	Asia
Ukraine	2,203	+311	69	+12	61	2,073	33	50	2	23,522	538	Europe
Singapore	2,108	+198	7	+1	492	1,609	29	360	1	72,680	12,423	Asia
Greece	2,011	+56	92	+5	269	1,650	77	193	9	35,532	3,409	Europe
South Africa	2,003	+69	24	+6	410	1,569	7	34	0.4	73,028	1,231	Africa
Belarus	1,981	+495	19	+3	169	1,793	72	210	2	53,000	5,609	Europe
Argentina	1,975	+81	82	+3	375	1,518	96	44	2	16,379	362	South America
Egypt	1,794	+95	135	+17	384	1,275		18	1	25,000	244	Africa
Algeria	1,761	+95	256	+21	405	1,100	46	40	6	3,359	77	Africa
Iceland	1,675	+27	7	+1	751	917	11	4,909	21	34,125	100,002	Europe
Croatia	1,495	+88	21	+1	231	1,243	34	364	5	14,612	3,559	Europe
Morocco	1,448	+74	107	+10	122	1,219	1	39	3	7,239	196	Africa
Moldova	1,438	+149	29		56	1,353	80	356	7	6,271	1,555	Europe
New Zealand	1,283	+44	2	+1	373	908	5	266	0.4	55,685	11,548	Australia/Oceania
Iraq	1,279	+47	70	+1	550	659		32	2	32,158	800	Asia
Estonia	1,258	+51	24		93	1,141	9	948	18	27,883	21,019	Europe
Hungary	1,190	+210	77	+11	112	1,001	17	123	8	29,948	3,100	Europe
Slovenia	1,160	+36	45	+2	137	978	36	558	22	33,047	15,896	Europe
Lithuania	999	+44	22	+6	54	923	14	367	8	36,051	13,243	Europe
Kuwait	993	+83	1		123	869	26	233	0.2			Asia
Azerbaijan	991	+65	10	+1	159	822	27	98	1.0	61,342	6,050	Asia
Hong Kong	990	+16	4		309	677	15	132	0.5	96,709	12,900	Asia
Armenia	937	+16	12	+2	149	776	30	316	4	6,081	2,052	Asia
Bahrain	925	+38	6	+1	539	380	3	544	4	57,681	33,899	Asia
Bosnia and Herzegovina	901	+43	36	+1	129	736	4	275	11	6,911	2,106	Europe
Cameroon	820	+17	12		98	710		31	0.5			Africa
Kazakhstan	812	+31	10	+2	64	738	21	43	0.5	61,955	3,300	Asia
	721		13		619	89	10
Slovakia	715	+14	2		23	690	5	131	0.4	22,957	4,205	Europe
*Diamond Princess*	712		11		619	82	10
North Macedonia	711	+48	32	+2	41	638	15	341	15	6,571	3,154	Europe
Tunisia	671	+28	25		25	621	78	57	2	10,087	853	Africa
Bulgaria	635	+17	25	+1	54	556	33	91	4	18,502	2,663	Europe
Uzbekistan	624	+42	3		42	579	8	19	0.09	70,000	2,091	Asia
Latvia	612	+23	3		16	593	3	324	2	26,656	14,132	Europe
Lebanon	609	+27	20	+1	76	513	28	89	3	13,530	1,982	Asia
Andorra	601	+18	26	+1	71	504	17	7,778	337	1,673	21,653	Europe
Cyprus	595	+31	10		58	527	11	493	8	16,308	13,507	Asia
Cuba	564	+49	15		51	498	11	50	1	12,023	1,061	North America
Costa Rica	558	+19	3		42	513	13	110	0.6	6,298	1,236	North America
Afghanistan	521	+37	15		32	474		13	0.4			Asia
Oman	484	+27	3		109	372	3	95	0.6			Asia
Ivory Coast	480	+36	3		54	423		18	0.1			Africa
Uruguay	473	+17	7		206	260	13	136	2	6,856	1,974	South America
Burkina Faso	448	+5	26	+2	149	273		21	1			Africa
Niger	438	+28	11		41	386		18	0.5	4,298	178	Africa
Bangladesh	424	+94	27	+6	33	364	1	3	0.2	7,359	45	Asia
Albania	416	+7	23		182	211	7	145	8	3,385	1,176	Europe
Channel Islands	398	+37	9	+1	40	349		2,289	52	1,157	6,655	Europe
Honduras	382	+39	23		7	352	10	39	2	1,600	162	North America
Taiwan	382	+2	6	+1	91	285		16	0.3	43,886	1,843	Asia
Réunion	382	+20			40	342	3	427				Africa
Ghana	378		6		4	368	2	12	0.2	37,405	1,204	Africa
Jordan	372		7		170	195	5	36	0.7	17,000	1,666	Asia
Malta	350	+13	2		16	332	4	793	5	13,732	31,100	Europe
San Marino	344	+11	34		50	260	14	10,138	1,002	846	24,933	Europe
Mauritius	318	+4	9	+2	23	286	3	250	7	6,730	5,292	Africa
Nigeria	305	+17	7		58	240	2	1	0.03	5,000	24	Africa
Kyrgyzstan	298	+18	5	+1	35	258	5	46	0.8	9,618	1,474	Asia
Bolivia	268	+4	19	+1	2	247	3	23	2	591	51	South America
Palestine	267	+4	2	+1	45	220		52	0.4	16,068	3,150	Asia
Senegal	265	+15	2		137	126	1	16	0.1			Africa
Montenegro	257	+5	2		4	251	7	409	3	2,329	3,708	Europe
Vietnam	257	+2			144	113	8	3		118,807	1,221	Asia
Georgia	234	+16	3		54	177	6	59	0.8	3,271	820	Asia
DRC	223	+43	20	+2	16	187		2	0.2			Africa
Guinea	212	+18			15	197		16				Africa
Isle of Man	201	+11	1		103	97	11	2,364	12	1,934	22,744	Europe
Mayotte	191	+7	2		50	139	4	700	7	1,300	4,765	Africa
Sri Lanka	190		7		54	129	5	9	0.3	3,248	152	Asia
Kenya	189	+5	7		22	160	2	4	0.1	5,278	98	Africa
Faeroe Islands	184				145	39		3,766		5,408	110,677	Europe
Venezuela	175	+4	9		84	82	6	6	0.3	139,282	4,898	South America
Martinique	155	+1	6		50	99	19	413	16			North America
Djibouti	150	+10	1		36	113		152	1	3,740	3,785	Africa
Guadeloupe	143		8		67	68	13	357	20			North America
Brunei	136	+1	1		99	36	3	311	2	9,342	21,354	Asia
Paraguay	129	+5	6	+1	18	105	1	18	0.8	2,262	317	South America
Gibraltar	127	+4			69	58	1	3,770		1,543	45,799	Europe
Guatemala	126	+31	3		17	106	3	7	0.2	1,134	63	North America
Cambodia	119				72	47	1	7		5,768	345	Asia
Rwanda	118	+5			7	111		9		806	62	Africa
El Salvador	117	+14	6		15	96	4	18	0.9			North America
Trinidad and Tobago	109		8		1	100		78	6	1,045	747	North America
Madagascar	93				11	82	1	3				Africa
Monaco	90	+6	1		5	84	4	2,293	25			Europe
Mali	87	+13	7		22	58		4	0.3			Africa
Aruba	86	+4			27	59		805		1,058	9,910	North America
French Guiana	83				43	40	1	278				South America
Liechtenstein	79	+1	1		55	23		2,072	26	900	23,605	Europe
Togo	76	+3	3		25	48		9	0.4	2,069	250	Africa
Barbados	67	+1	4	+1	11	52	4	233	14	736	2,561	North America
Ethiopia	65	+9	3	+1	4	58	1	0.6	0.03	3,232	28	Africa
Jamaica	63		4		13	46		21	1	907	306	North America
Congo	60		5		5	50		11	0.9			Africa
Uganda	53					53		1		3,310	72	Africa
French Polynesia	51					51		182		744	2,649	Australia/Oceania
Sint Maarten	50	+7	8	+2	3	39	2	1,166	187	134	3,125	North America
Bermuda	48		4		25	19	2	771	64	354	5,684	North America
Cayman Islands	45		1		6	38		685	15	479	7,288	North America
Macao	45				10	35	1	69				Asia
Gabon	44		1		1	42		20	0.4			Africa
Bahamas	42	+1	8		5	29	1	107	20			North America
Zambia	40	+1	2	+1	25	13	1	2	0.1	1,239	67	Africa
Guyana	37		6		8	23	4	47	8	145	184	South America
Liberia	37	+6	5	+1	3	29		7	1.0			Africa
Guinea-Bissau	36					36		18		1,500	762	Africa
Benin	35	+9	1		5	29		3	0.08			Africa
Eritrea	34	+1				34		10				Africa
Tanzania	32	+7	3	+2	5	24		0.5	0.05			Africa
Saint Martin	32		2		11	19	5	828	52			North America
Haiti	31	+1	2			29		3	0.2	365	32	North America
Myanmar	27	+4	3		2	22		0.5	0.06	1,406	26	Asia
Libya	24		1		8	15		3	0.1	492	72	Africa
Antigua and Barbuda	21	+2	2			19	1	214	20	40	408	North America
Somalia	21	+9	1		1	19		1	0.06			Africa
Mozambique	20	+3			2	18		0.6		483	15	Africa
Angola	19		2		2	15		0.6	0.06			Africa
Syria	19		2		4	13		1	0.1			Asia
Maldives	19				13	6		35				Asia
Equatorial Guinea	18				3	15		13		854	609	Africa
New Caledonia	18				1	17		63		2,608	9,135	Australia/Oceania
Sudan	17	+2	2		2	13		0.4	0.05			Africa
Dominica	16	+1			5	11		222		309	4,293	North America
Fiji	16	+1				16		18				Australia/Oceania
Laos	16					16		2		1,035	142	Asia
Mongolia	16				4	12		5				Asia
Namibia	16				3	13		6		362	142	Africa
Saint Lucia	15	+1			1	14		82				North America
Curaçao	14		1		7	6		85	6			North America
Grenada	14	+2				14	2	124		92	818	North America
Zimbabwe	13	+2	3			10		0.9	0.2	438	29	Africa
Botswana	13		1			12		6	0.4	1,154	491	Africa
Saint Kitts and Nevis	12	+1				12		226		205	3,853	North America
St. Vincent Grenadines	12				1	11		108		56	505	North America
Eswatini	12				7	5		10				Africa
Chad	11				2	9		0.7				Africa
Greenland	11				11	0		194		770	13,564	North America
Seychelles	11					11		112				Africa
Belize	10	+1	2	+1		8	1	25	5	364	915	North America
Suriname	10		1		4	5		17	2			South America
*MS Zaandam*	9		2			7
Malawi	9	+1	1			8	1	0.5	0.05			Africa
Nepal	9				1	8		0.3		3,524	121	Asia
Montserrat	9					9	1	1,803		36	7,212	North America
Turks and Caicos	8		1			7		207	26	61	1,576	North America
CAR	8					8		2				Africa
Vatican City	8				2	6		9,988				Europe
Sierra Leone	8	+1				8		1				Africa
Cabo Verde	7		1		1	5		13	2			Africa
Mauritania	7		1		2	4		2	0.2	380	82	Africa
Nicaragua	7		1			6		1	0.2			North America
St. Barth	6				1	5		607				North America
Bhutan	5				2	3		6		1,166	1,511	Asia
Falkland Islands	5				1	4		1,437		137	39,368	South America
Gambia	4		1		2	1		2	0.4			Africa
Sao Tome and Principe	4					4		18		19	87	Africa
South Sudan	4	+1				4		0.4				Africa
Western Sahara	4					4		7				Africa
Anguilla	3					3		200				North America
British Virgin Islands	3					3		99				North America
Burundi	3					3		0.3				Africa
Caribbean Netherlands	2					2		76		10	381	North America
Papua New Guinea	2					2		0.2		72	8	Australia/Oceania
Timor-Leste	2	+1			1	1		2				Asia
Saint Pierre Miquelon	1					1		173				North America
Yemen	1	+1				1		0.03				Asia
Total:	275,041	+11,144	10,224	+328	133,960	130,857	6,575					Asia
Total:	536,841	+36,063	19,822	+2,135	34,452	482,567	11,906					North America
Total:	820,109	+41,257	70,063	+4,245	196,782	553,264	30,232					Europe
Total:	44,976	+5,371	1,809	+194	4,619	38,548	876					South America
Total:	7,608	+131	56	+4	3,515	4,037	79					Australia/Oceania
Total:	13,539	+659	697	+65	2,237	10,605	153					Africa
Total:	721		13		619	89	10
Total:	1,698,835	+94,625	102,684	+6,971	376,184	1,219,967	49,831	217.9	13.2			All

Highlighted in green

= all cases have recovered from the infection

Highlighted in grey

= all cases have had an outcome (there are no active cases)

Source: https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/

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