such as a virus being carried into an area

[diamondcutter]

An epidemic is the name given to an infectious disease that rapidly spreads to a large number of people within a short period of time—usually two weeks or less. Epidemics have been happening for as long as there have been people living on Earth. They can be caused by several different factors, such as a virus being carried into an area, or changes in the way people live, like more people living in an area, which increases the chances of them coming into contact with a bacteria or virus.

Source: English, Book 3, a textbook for senior high school students in China, Pearson Education and Beijing Normal University Press

I have two questions about this passage.

1. such as a virus being carried into an area
In this phrase, I don’t understand why the author used “being carried”. What about just using “carried” instead of “being carried”?

2. like more people living in an area
For this phrase, I wonder whether it’s more appropriate to say “like more people coming to live in an area”.

 

[Barque]

In this phrase, I don’t understand why the author used “being carried”.

There are usually multiple ways of saying something in English. However the speaker/writer can only choose one.

You could drop "being". It sounds better with "being" however. It means "a virus being carried by an infected person into an area". The sentence could also have said "a virus having been carried into an area".

For this phrase, I wonder whether it’s more appropriate to say “like more people coming to live in an area”.

You could say that but the original conveys the same message.