Q Are there any areas in the world that COVID-19 is bypassing?

AThe virus seems to be sparing people at high altitudes. Cusco, pictured, Peru’s high-altitude city of 420,000 residents, has seen only three deaths in the region, a contagion rate more than 80 per cent below the national average. Bolivia’s, Ecuador’s and Tibet’s populations above 3,000 metres saw significantly lower levels of infections than their lowland counterparts. High altitude populations might benefit from an ability to cope with low levels of oxygen in the blood and an environment hostile to the virus — dry mountain air, high UV levels and the possibility that lower barometric pressure reduces the virus’s ability to linger in the air.