Lifestyles and living standard disparities in the pandemicity of COVID-19 in the Global North versus the Global South Countries

Abstract

The coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19) pandemic is imposing an extraordinary threat to global health. Consequently, fear has been raised in that the COVID-19 pandemic could disproportionately affect lowincome countries. Low-income countries are mainly concentrated in the Global South of the tropics with a high diversity of pathogens, and a considerable proportion of people living under chronic poverty. All these risks might have made Southern people develop a sort of herd immunity and resilience against a broad range of infections. The analysis of the COVID-19 Worldometers data by using country-, territory-, or conveyance-wise summarized in Global North (64 countries) and Global South (147 countries) suggested the high incidence of COVID-19 infection in the North world countries. However, this should be treated with caution given the low testing and contact tracing, and presumably reporting capacity, by the South World countries. Nevertheless, Southern people are living under minimal healthcare, consequently, their relative wellness amidst the COVID-19 crisis could not be overlooked. The observed differences in infectivity, however, might not be ethnically-biased but most likely they could be due to the differences in the living standard, healthcare systems as well as the lifestyle of Global North versus Global South countries.