It's fair to say some countries have handled the COVID-19 outbreak much better than others. While the likes of the UK and USA have had inconsistent approaches to dealing with the virus, nations such as Germany and South Korea have experienced more success in lessening its impact.
Germany have often been pointed to as the European leaders, especially when it comes to areas such as testing. One thing that immediately stands out is the country has the lowest death rate of all majorly affected nations, with the current figure standing at around 0.8%.
This is largely down to the amount of tests administered in the country. By making testing more accessible, they have diagnosed a larger amount of cases. By also immediately testing close contacts of those who are diagnosed, they can better enforce other measures such as isolations and early treatment.
While they have been pioneers in this part of the pandemic, they now look set to blaze a trail in the first step towards recovery.
Germany are planning to start testing hundreds of thousands of people for the presence of potential antibodies to coronavirus.
Those with antibodies present would have already successfully fought off the disease, and would be highly unlikely to be at risk of contracting it. Thus, they will be given 'immunity certificates' and allowed to return to work if possible.
Germany has got testing spot on.
They plan to test hundreds of thousands for the presence of the antibodies and issue 'Immunity Certificates' to those who test positive-allowing their work to be exempt from the lockdown.
This information will be a huge weapon against the virus.— Professor Karol Sikora (@ProfKarolSikora) March 30, 2020
Good news-
'We can see some early signs of slowing in some indicators' -one of the Government's key advisers Professor Neil Ferguson.
It will take some time before we will see the full benefit, but what we are all doing does matter - it is saving lives.
Hang on in there!— Professor Karol Sikora (@ProfKarolSikora) March 30, 2020
Such an approach would in theory allow many workers return to work than otherwise possible, lessening the impact of the global lockdown.
If this approach is in anyway successful, you can expect to see a number of other countries to follow suit.
