The appearance of coronavirus in Germany has led to the necessity to adjust to the new situation. The pandemic dictates the new rules to the government and urges it to take further measures in terms of prevention and treatment of this infection. There are several ways to prevent the virus from spreading, and Germany is implementing its new policy for the safety of its citizens. However, it is still unclear if these measures help or the number of infected people keeps increasing.
In contrast to such European countries as Spain or Italy, the figures for Germany remain relatively low. These results are conditioned by the active policy of the government and the restrictions of the Robert Koch Institute, which defined the threat risk as “high” (“Germany coronavirus threat raised to ‘high’ alert,” 2020). At the moment, there are 100,132 infected people in the country: 1,584 of them died, and 28,700 citizens have fully recovered (“Germany,” 2020). Hence, Germany demonstrated its seriousness in addressing the issue, which helped it to remain one of the countries with minimal casualties.
There are two reasons for such low indicators of Germany regarding the spread of coronavirus. The first reason is the number of people who were reported to have ‘mild’ conditions with high chances of recovery, which accounts for 65,912 cases (“Germany”, 2020). As can be seen from the numbers above, these expectations have been realized. The second reason is the fewer amount of elderly people, who are considered to be in the main group of risk (“Germany,” 2020). These two factors are playing the most significant role in the overall outcome of the fight against coronavirus.
Germany is also paying particular attention to taking preventive measures in a timely manner. Since January 2020, they have been conducting tests among the people of the risk groups and isolated the infected citizens. It also promoted social distancing as a prevention measure to stop the virus from spreading (“What explains the low coronavirus death rate in Germany?” 2020). As a result, these actions led to better indicators of the country in contrast to Italy, Spain, or France.
Not only the government’s measures but also the population of the country contributes to the improvement of the situation. The attitude of people towards this problem was serious, and the recommendations considering protection and the cancellation of events were strictly followed (“What explains the low coronavirus death rate in Germany?” 2020). Hence, the consciousness of German citizens contributed to the reduction in the risk of getting infected and improved the situation in the country.
In terms of preventing the spread of coronavirus, some European countries decided to close their borders. For example, Austria was one of the first countries to resort to this measure (“Coronavirus: Travel restrictions,” 2020). It is still unclear if the closure of borders helps to reduce the number of cases as there is no data on the possible outcome of such a policy. Recently, Germany has followed the example of other countries and closed its borders too (“Coronavirus: Travel restrictions,” 2020). However, the implementation of social restrictions can be enough for preventing the spread of infection.
The policy of Germany and its serious approach to the problem related to the spread of coronavirus resulted in the lowest figures among European countries. The timely prevention and treatment of the infected people also contributed to this outcome. Although the number of cases is increasing, this process in Germany is much slower than in other countries. The decision to close the borders is mostly influenced by the similar decisions of the neighboring countries. It is too early to evaluate the possible benefit of such a measure at this point.
References
Coronavirus: Travel restrictions, border shutdowns by country. (2020). Aljazeera. Web.
Germany. (2020). Worldometer. Web.
Germany coronavirus threat raised to ‘high’ alert. (2020). DW. Web.
What explains the low coronavirus death rate in Germany? (2020) The Local. Web.