Germany is testing up to 500,000 people a week for the new coronavirus, a
virologist said Thursday, adding that early detection has been key in
keeping the country’s death rate relatively low.
The country has more than 36,000 declared cases of the virus, among
the highest in Europe, but has managed to avoid the high death rates
seen in hard-hit Italy and Spain.
Experts say widespread testing and tracing of COVID-19 cases is key
to limiting the spread of the disease, an approach adopted in South
Korea and Singapore where the outbreak has largely been contained.
In Germany, virologist Christian Drosten said it had helped to keep the death rate under control.
“The reason why Germany has so few deaths compared to the number of
infected people can be explained by the fact that we carry out an
extremely large number of laboratory diagnostic tests,” said Drosten,
who heads the Institute of Virology at Berlin’s Charite University
Hospital.
“Estimates from the last days show that we are carrying out half a million tests a week,” he said.
He added that a vast network of laboratories across the country had helped with the widespread testing.
Germany’s health minister confirmed that between 300,000 and 500,000
tests were carried out in Germany last week alone, with about 10 percent
coming back positive.
“That’s likely to be the most tests of any country in the world, in both absolute and relative terms,” Jens Spahn said.
Among Germany’s population of 83 million people, 36,508 are confirmed
infected, including 198 who have died from the disease, according to
official data compiled by the disease control agency Robert Koch
Institute.
Search for treatment
At 0.54 percent, Germany’s death rate is far lower than Italy’s rate of
around 10 percent and Spain’s fatality rate of 7.3 percent. France’s
death rate is about 5.2 percent.
Besides the large-scale testing, experts in Germany also said that
the virus has largely affected a younger, healthier section of the
population compared to elsewhere.
At the same time, experts have repeatedly warned that in the country
where almost a quarter of the population is over 60, the number of
deaths could still skyrocket if people do not stick to measures to help
halt contagion.
Lockdown measures are in place across Germany, preventing people from
leaving their homes except for essential trips, while most shops,
restaurants and bars are closed.
Berlin’s research ministry said it would commit 150 million euros
($164 million) to improve communication between hospitals and
laboratories about coronavirus patients’ health data, hoping the
information exchange could feed into the development of a vaccine.
Drosten suggested that some rules on clinical research could be loosened in the search for a coronavirus treatment.
But he downplayed the use of anti-malarial drug chloroquine — hyped by US President Donald Trump — for infected patients.
“There are substances that are much more promising,” he said, using the example of Favipiravir, a flu medication.
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