The major factor behind Asia's more effective handling of diseases

SINCE early this year, the Covid-19 pandemic has plagued just about every country in the world. Yet, countries have differed vastly in their infection rates and responses to control the situation. Asian nations seem to be handling the virus more effectively than Western countries. China, for instance, hit a peak of daily new cases in February and largely eliminated new cases within a few weeks. In contrast, in the US and Brazil where total cases together exceed five million, the new-case numbers are coming down very slowly or are still rising after a few months. Such differences have been attributed to various cultural differences between the East and West. Here, we consider a major factor that may underlie why Asian countries are more naturally suited to handle such crises: evolution.

First, let's take stock of the explanations identified thus far. One involves looser government policies and lower citizen-cooperation in the West versus East. For instance, England has been reported to experience low cooperation with policies and guidelines such as social distancing and mask-wearing. In the US, where no quarantines have been imposed for citizens, several protests have occurred, with slogans declaring that people would rather die than be at home and out of work. Likewise, Australia and Italy have experienced large-scale violations of orders pertaining to lockdowns and social distancing.

Another reported explanation is that Asian countries have had recent experience dealing with other outbreaks (for example, Sars, Mers) and hence are better prepared with knowledge and infrastructure facilitating the management of epidemics. Other suggested explanations include Asia taking measures such as rigorous testing and contact tracing, Asian societies' normal social habits (such as wearing masks due to air pollution and past influenza experiences), and Asians having a stronger sense of social responsibility and less individualistic values.