As of March 20, 2020, Germany has recorded 18,361
coronavirus cases, but only 52 deaths from the virus, a fact that baffles many.
Germany has a fatality rate of just 0.3%, a sharp contrast to Italy's 7.9%.
Some experts think Germany has such a low death rate from the virus because
they are at an earlier stage of the pandemic, and its death rate may increase
with time. Rampant testing and early detection is a plausible reason to some
scientists.
Dr. Mike Ryan, health emergencies director at the
World Health Organization (WHO) said: Germany has had a very aggressive
testing process. So the number of tests maybe detecting more mild
cases." Regarding Italy's high death rate, he said: "Italy has a much
older population. And in many ways Italy is the poster child for living longer
lives, but unfortunately in this case having an older population means the
fatality rate may appear higher."
Prof Lothar Wieler of Germany’s Robert Koch Institute said:
"From the beginning, we have very systematically called upon our doctors
to test people.
"We can provide testing to a high degree so that we
can easily look into the beginnings of the epidemic," he concluded.
Germany also has more Intensive Care Unit (ICU) beds -
28,000 - compared to the other severely-hit countries. 25,000 of these beds
have ventilators that are needed by critically ill patients. According to The
Telegraph, at the outbreak of the crisis, Germany had 29.2 intensive care
beds per 100,000 people, while Italy had 12.5, and the UK, just 6.6.
Also, the rate of spread of the coronavirus among those
aged 60 and above is much lower in Germany than elsewhere. Perhaps their prompt
testing has led to early detection and treatment, preventing the older age
groups from getting contaminated.
Let us know what you think!
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