Germany, UK and the stark difference in coronavirus deaths
- Germany reacted more swiftly to the outbreak than Britain, potentially saving lives
- Testing rates, crucial for identifying and slowing spread, vastly different between two countries
The global toll from the coronavirus crisis neared a new grim milestone on Tuesday with nearly 2 million reported cases and 120,000 dead.
But the remarkable differences in the way Germany and the UK have handled their outbreaks and the starkly divergent case fatality rates will be studied for years to come for insights into how to respond – or not respond – to the next pandemic.
On Monday, with Germany’s tally approaching 128,000 cases with 3,043 coronavirus-related deaths, the UK reported 11,329 dead and 85,199 cases.
A day earlier, 697 people died in the UK – more than five times as many as the 126 who passed away in Germany – even though it has far fewer cases of infected patients than in Germany.
The most important explanation for the discrepancy between two of Europe’s leading countries,
according to medical experts, was that Germany reacted swiftly to the outbreak by shutting down the country on March 16 while Britain was late out of the gates, moving erratically and then slowly to introduce social distancing measures. It did not match shutdown steps in Germany until seven days later – on March 23. German schools also shut on March 13; the UK did not close schools until March 18.