By July 2020, Germany had already confirmed over 200,000 coronavirus cases, and in a population of over 83 million, the country had recorded about 9,000 deaths. The mortality rate per 100,000 in Germany is one of the least in the European continent.  Comparing Germany with the US, which has a population of approximately four times that of Germany, the US had confirmed over 3.8 million coronavirus cases and about 140,000 deaths, which was more adverse than Germany. The relatively good handling of coronavirus in Germany can be attributed to the adhering of the coronavirus containment measures. Including opting to work from home and using German healthy food delivery services. Review sites such as reviewsbird.de can be beneficial when it comes to selecting reputable companies to help with your food delivery. Always avoid the negatively reviewed sites. Below are some insights into how Germany coped with the pandemic.

Timelines of the pandemic outbreak

Germany reported its first coronavirus case in Bavaria on January 27, 2020. The country had already prepared its infrastructure to tackle the disease. By January 16, the country’s public health infrastructure ensured that technical guidelines for testing, risk assessment procedure, disease management, and contact tracing hygiene were ready. The government also started issuing regular reports on the status of the pandemic in the country. By February 27, the country already had confirmed 26 cases, and an inter-ministerial national crises management group was set up, and immediately all travellers getting into Germany from countries that were labelled as high risks areas were asked to provide their contact details and give out information regarding any probable exposure.

At the beginning of March, travel and mass gathering started to be progressively restricted. March 10 marked the day in which mass gatherings that involved over 1,000 persons were banned. Schools began to get closed by mid-March, and non-European union citizen were prohibited from getting into Germany on March 18 for one month. The federal states and national government on March 22 announced a contact ban that involved limiting public gatherings only to two other persons outside of family members. Many businesses were also closed, and social distancing measures of about 5 feet were also implemented.

Towards Mid-April, it was a requirement that all travellers, regardless of where they were coming from, were to quarantine for 14 days. It was evident that these measures bore fruit as, by April 15, the new coronavirus cases reported daily were 2,000, down from 6,000 at the peak of March. The government would then announce a progressive easing of the measures such as physical distancing.

In summer, the country had two minor outbreaks. By late June 2020, there were other outbreaks that were associated with low-income housing and slaughter hoses.  To respond to these, the first lockdown since the reopening of the country was announced in March. There was also the testing of more than 7,000 Gütersloh’s slaughterhouse workers, and additional testing sites were set up in hotpot areas to control any further spreading of the pandemic. In early September and some parts of late August, there was another minor outbreak that was associated with vacationers that were getting back home after travel. Travel restrictions continued to get eased through the months of summer, resulting in a peaking of the cases, and at nine weeks of the measures being eased, the cases hit a 49% peak. At the start of early October, just like the rest of Europe, Germany was hit by the second wave, which by January 2021 it was at its peak.

Germany’s response to the pandemic.

The country’s response to the pandemic can be analysed in a four-phase framework response and preparedness: Prevent, detect, contain, and treat.

Prevent: As far as prevention is concerned, the country’s local health authorities, including the Robert Koch Institute (RKI), among other scientific institutions in the country, started analysing data and announcing it to the public. In addition, the countries national crises management team would help in understanding the pandemic epidemiology.

Detect: The Berlin’s Charité hospital came up with one of the initial COVID-19 diagnostic tests. The government also worked to ensure the mobilisation of the country’s private and public laboratory to scale its capacity to test the population. Germany would become the country that pioneered the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) testing, which still prominently features in the countries national testing strategy.

Contain: In long-term care facilities, Germany maintained moderately low transmission making it possible to keep death rates down. In the second wave, Germany was unable to keep the level of infection low among the elderly population of the country, and thus, deaths were much higher than in the first wave.

Treat: This involves putting the infected under appropriate care, including providing ventilators, oxygen, and proper home-based care. Germany ensured its health facilities were well equipped.

In conclusion, with this article, the reader can understand how Germany was relatively successful in coping with the pandemic. Travellers will specifically be able to analyse the countries responsiveness to the pandemic before making an informed decision on whether or not to visit Germany.