BERLIN—Germany’s low fatality rate among CCP virus patients stands out from the rest. Currently, only 0.54 percent of patients in Germany die, compared to Italy’s 10.09 percent. That means those infected in Germany are 20 times less likely to die compared to Italy.
On Friday, Italy had almost 1,000 deaths in one day, a record high, while Germany has had 304 fatalities in total. Italy’s total deaths stand at 9,134.
Some experts point to Germany’s rigorous testing regimen as one explanation for the low fatality rate.
“Germany has started very early to test many more patients than in other countries, for example, right from the very first case in early February. We then tested everybody who had contact with that person and put all these people in quarantine,” said Dr. Reinhard Busse, professor of health care management at Berlin University of Technology.
With more testing, you get a more accurate picture, says Busse. That means, there are probably many more undetected cases in Italy.
“If you only test people with symptoms, you miss all the people with mild courses of the disease, and then you have a worse picture of the true situation,” said Busse.
On Thursday, Germany’s Health Minister Jens Spahn said the country had conducted between 300,000 and 500,000 tests for the virus in the last week. On Friday, a German institute announced it plans to regular test 100,000 people in a large-scale test starting in April.
Another explanation for Germany’s relatively low fatality rate may be found in the different social structures in Europe.
“What we do find is in those countries where this is more prevalent, then you have these multi-generational homes, these are large families living together. There, you see higher case fatality rates,” said Christian Bayer, professor of economics at University of Bonn.
Bayer and his colleague, Moritz Kuhn, in a study looked at how intergenerational ties in different countries correlate to the fatality rate among CCP virus patients.
In Italy, for example, it’s common for grandparents to look after their grandchildren and twice as many Italians live with their parents.
According to the study, “differences in social interactions and social networks play a key role in explaining the cross-country differences in mortality during the early phase of the coronavirus outbreak.” Bayer warns countries with similar social structures to Italy, like Poland, to be prepared.
As of Friday, Germany has 43,646 confirmed cases of virus infections and 304 deaths, according to the Johns Hopkins University.
NTD refers to the novel coronavirus, which causes the disease COVID-19, as the CCP virus because the Chinese Communist Party’s coverup and mismanagement allowed the virus to spread throughout China and create a global pandemic.