Introduction
The emergence of the coronavirus infection was a complete surprise for most countries. Their policies during the epidemic seem to be similar, once this threat became an international issue. However, at the beginning of the spread of coronavirus, the reactions varied considerably among the countries. This fact contributed to a significant difference between the amounts of infected citizens as well as the success of the governments’ actions as a whole. The initial strategy of Germany, for example, explains why this country has a lower number of cases than the other European countries.
The situation in China was worrisome enough for the German government to become concerned about the possible spread of coronavirus infection. The information from Chinese authorities could not be trusted as they did not have an opportunity to provide precise statistics on the number of cases. The first case of infection on the territory of Germany was revealed on January 27th, 2020, but by that time, people were ready for such a development (Germany confirms human transmission, 2020). The concerns of the government galvanized the society into action before it happened, and its awareness resulted in being better prepared than, for example, Italy.
Main text
The preparations for the COVID-19 epidemic in Germany started with informing its citizens of the possible threat of a new virus from China. Meanwhile, German scientists began to make attempts to understand the nature of the new infection to deal with it in an efficient way (Freund, 2020). The first strategy the country tried to implement was the containment strategy similar to the one in China. Moreover, the understanding that all hospitals of the country would be overburdened in the case of the spread of coronavirus, German medical institutions started to prepare for it at the beginning of January (Freund, 2020). They canceled all the operations that were not urgent to make sure they can easily rearrange their work, if necessary.
Another measure of Germany in terms of containing the spread of coronavirus infection was related to the movement of its citizens. Therefore, by the end of January, most airline companies canceled their flights until the situation in the world becomes better (Marcus, 2020). The only passenger transportation was intended to evacuate German citizens staying abroad, especially in China. These actions were taken when there were only eight infected people in the country (Marcus, 2020). However, even this number was alarming for the German government, and they made every effort to ensure the safety of its citizens.
By that time, the people who were returning from China had to check their body temperature at the airports. According to Health Minister Jens Spahn, it was evident that most infected people show no symptoms at all, and disregard for this issue would worsen the situation in the country (Marcus, 2020). When the number of infected people reached 16, the German government started to allocate money for the fight against the new virus (Marcus, 2020). The early preparation for the new pandemic allowed Germany to recognize its possible development and deal with it promptly.
Conclusion
As can be seen from the action of German authorities, the country was prepared for the spread of coronavirus and its consequences. The initial strategy that included cancellations of flights, rearrangements of work in the hospitals, and the contributions of scientists allowed to decrease the number of victims of the pandemic. Thus, the example of Germany demonstrates the efficiency of preliminary measures in pandemic preparedness.
References
Freund, A. (2020). Coronavirus: Germany hopes to contain COVID-19. DW. Web.
Germany confirms human transmission of coronavirus.(2020). DW. Web.
Marcus, I. (2020). Chronology: Germany and the Coronavirus. The Berlin SPECTATOR. Web.