What is your risk to get infected coronavirus?

East Asians, Japanese, and Han Chinese are the most likely people to become severely sick by the coronavirus with a chance of more than 90% when exposed. Europeans only rank in the 50%, Africans in the 60% range, and considered low to medium. It also makes a difference if one is a smoker or non-smoker.

The Travel and Tourism industry is in turmoil. Tourism leaders don’t want anyone to panic, but the story doesn’t yet have an end to it.

At the same time, researchers are working around the clock to learn more about the deadly virus. Recent studies may explain why Europe, America had no deadly cases of the virus, and no coronavirus cases at all were reported from Africa.

Stopping travel may not be the solution and could only mean travel businesses could become collateral damage in the fight against coronavirus. The World Health Organization always said “do not stop travel and commerce.”, even after WHO declared a global epidemic emergency.

Why is this?

The novel coronavirus (2019-nCov) was identified in Wuhan, Hubei Province, China in December of 2019.

This new coronavirus has resulted in thousands of cases of lethal disease in China, with additional patients being identified in a rapidly growing number internationally.



2019-nCov was reported to share the same receptor, Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ACE2), with SARS-Cov.



Here based on the public database and the state-of-the-art single-cell RNA-Seq technique, the ACE2 RNA expression profile in the normal human lungs. The result indicates that the ACE2 virus receptor expression is concentrated in a small population of type II alveolar cells (AT2).



Surprisingly, studies found that this population of ACE2-expressing AT2 also highly expressed many other genes that positively regulating viral reproduction and transmission.



A comparison between eight individual samples demonstrated that the Asian male one has an extremely large number of ACE2-expressing cells in the lung. This is based on an unfinished study by Yu Zhao, Zixian Zhao, Yujia Wang, Yueqing Zhou, Yu Ma, Wei Zuo and published by Bio Rxiv:

A second study investigates how and why the virus will enter the human body, by Michael Letko, Vincent Munster

Apparently the coronavirus enters a human body through some connection with something called the ACE2 receptor. East Asians and men have more than say white Europeans and women. Being a white woman seems to be the way to have much lesser risk.



According to this study and based on the assumption in this study and in regards to the receptor, Angiotensin-converting enzyme 2, human populations where samples were available were categorized by risk in obtaining a dangerous version of the virus. Most ill may not feel more than a common cold, for others Coronavirus can be fatal.

According to this preliminary study the risk of obtaining the virus:

High risk 90%-99%

Japanese in Tokyo, Japan

Southern Han Chinese

Kinh in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

Han Chinese in Bejing, China

Chinese Dai in Xishuangbanna, China

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Moderate Risk: 80-89%

Not found

Medium to Moderate Risk: 70-79%

Peruvians from Lima, Peru

Bengali from Bangladesh

Sri Lankan Tamil from the UK

Indian Telgu from the UK

Mexican Ancestry from Los Angeles, USA

South Asians (general average)

Medium Risk: 60-69%

Gujarati Indians from Houston, TX

Admixed Americans

Americans of African Ancestry in SW USA

Punjabi from Lahore, Pakistan

African Caribbeans in Barbados

Luhya in Webuye, Kenya

Mende in Sierra Leona

Africans (general average)

Esan in Nigeria

British in U.K.

Gambians in Western Division in The Gambia

Puerto Ricans

Low to Medium Risk: 50-59%

Colombians from Medellin

Yoruba in Ibadan, Nigeria

Finnish in Finland

Iberian Population in Spain

Europeans (in General)

Utah Residence (Caucasians)

Toscani, Italy

risk for Coronavirus