Population of Germany 83.02 million, coronavirus deaths 4,098

[ChicChicChicChiclana]

Population of UK 66.65 million, coronavirus deaths 13,729

To me this is the most amazing statistic of the pandemic so far.

If our Government have questions to answer, surely this is the big one!?

Germany were producing their own, reliable tests as early as January. Very impressive.

Our government should be following everything they do but sadly of course they won't.
Angela Merkel is a scientist and had the right approach to this from the start.

Shows the power of mass early testing. Which we didn’t think was necessary?!

And a robust healthcare system.

Also younger part of the population infected first I think.

Early intervention is probably a factor. People are being treated and given oxygen as soon as they experience breathing difficulties. We're telling people not to ring 111 until they're turning blue and can barely speak. At that stage, the decision is made about whether they're worth ventilating or not.

Hopefully all countries will collaborate to formulate the best response for future pandemics.

I’m so pissed off about how we’ve handled this compared to other European countries. Now I’ve seen on the news we’re projected to have the highest death rate in Europe. I really hope our government is held to account when this is over.

They won't be, they've been able to get away with murder for years and people still vote them in.

Definitely think Germany's early medical intervention has helped. Can't believe how we are leaving people floundering at home with this disease in this country.

Germany has had really fantastically low fatality rates - it's very impressive.

I've heard many reasons why, it is probably a combination of several, I think every country will be trying to copy everything they can.

Note, however, that UK is roughly in line with France, Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Switzerland.

They've all have varied strategies, governments and health care systems but have ended up in similar places (once reporting changes and uncertainties are factored in).

We need therefore to be careful when criticising the response in this country, because we are basically normal - it's just that Germany is not normal

CKoRn well then the opposition needs to pull it's socks up. Perhaps then people might vote for them instead.

The UK response is an exercise in incompetence and negligence. Germany's the complete opposite.

Early intervention is probably a factor. People are being treated and given oxygen as soon as they experience breathing difficulties. We're telling people not to ring 111 until they're turning blue and can barely speak. At that stage, the decision is made about whether they're worth ventilating or not

Yeah my brain keeps coming back to this and wondering if it's deliberate to do a decent cull of the weak.

Then I squash it as nonsense, but it still comes back. Obviously it's not that though.

Maybe it's a woman leader thing.

Early intervention is probably a factor. People are being treated and given oxygen as soon as they experience breathing difficulties. We're telling people not to ring 111 until they're turning blue and can barely speak. At that stage, the decision is made about whether they're worth ventilating or not.

This is what I think too.

Yes, I acknowledge that about many other European countries TheLastSaola and who knows what is going to happen in Sweden

But this bald fact about Germany is amazing isn't it?

Also, if anyone could be in any doubt, it makes China's official figures of 4,632 deaths in a country of 1.4 billion look completely preposterous.

And I agree that the UK urgently needs to find a way to intervene earlier with people experiencing breathing difficulties.

And this is what the journalists should be asking our politicians about! Not when friffing lockdown is going to end on a loop.

That’s a good point about giving oxygen asap. Especially now that we’ve freed up capacity in hospitals due to the cancellation of procedure.

The German Chancellor has a strong scientific background, while many of our politicians have non scientific educational degrees that are mostly earned by rich parents and advantageous social connections rather than real brainwork...

Also younger part of the population infected first I think

Thats what our tory media and politicians would have you believe but weren't our early infections also from younger people returning from skiing trips too?

We were also told by the same people that Italy handled CV very badly and that they have a very old population...... so whats our excuse?

Germany can test so many more because in January they told Roche Bayer etc to start making testing equipment
We on the other hand were told we were well prepared, had helped invent the test and its ok to go to footie, concerts, horse racing and to shake hands of hospital patients.... only Johnson among world leaders has caught CV !!!

Germany isn't special, it was prepared and took CV seriously.

Completely agree, I wish the journalists would focus on questions that matter at this moment in time. Germany have done so well keeping the numbers low, surely a correlation between early intervention and lower death rate should be questioned.

Agree completely OP. Early treatment is key. It seems so obvious too. With anything really, any kind of problem, it's generally best to tackle before it gets worse.

With talk of women leaders and scientists, I wonder how Thatcher would've handled it? She was a scientist.

I agree op. This shows that you don't have to lose many thousands of people to this virus. Germany has handled this amazingly. We should be looking very closely at copying how they do things.

I thought our politicians were following "World leading" scientific advice and evidence? if so, why should it matter what background a politician has?

I think we were so worried the NHS would collapse within days, we have gone too far the other way and now aren't treating in a timely manner.

The single biggest difference between the German and British healthcare systems is the mindset of the population. The Germans accept that having first-class healthcare means higher tax rates. The British people don't. I've seen plenty of posts saying funding for the NHS will have to change after this pandemic but I've only seen a tiny number of people saying they're willing to pay more tax.

An annual tourism trade event in Berlin, due to be held in the first week of March was cancelled at the last minute for safety reasons. It was very damaging to their economy as it attracts 70,000 visitors to the city.
Two weeks after that decision, the UK held Cheltenham and football matches with overseas fans flying in and out.

Boris had oxygen at an early stage so I think this may be key.

Yes I think the early intervention with oxygen is key to this. Far too many stories here about people struggling to breathe at home yet not deemed serious enough to go to hospital. Then they deteriorate rapidly.

If they were in hospital they would be monitored. We have some capacity in the Nightingales. Maybe a change on policy is needed. This could be a good question from the journalists rather then pressing for the exit strategy they won’t get!