International comparisons are made more difficult by different countries testing different. But based on confirmed cases of infection, the mortality rate in Italy, for example, is 11 percent. In Germany, however, it is just under 1 percent (in Sweden, where few tests are done, the corresponding figure on Tuesday morning was just under 4 percent).

Even in terms of population, the German death toll is low - 1 in 140,000 (Sweden 1 in 71,000).

Almost symbolically, Chancellor Angela Merkel has tested negative for coronavirus and gained a boost in opinion. Her party CDU / CSU now has support of 32–35 percent, up 6–7 percentage points in a couple of weeks. And one reason is considered the fight against covid-19, AFP reports.

Storm is coming?

Germany has borrowed its strategy from South Korea, whose success in slowing down the spread of infection is being envied in the world.

Germany tests more people than any other country, between 300,000 and 500,000 a week, which means that you know more cases than other countries and partly therefore also receive a smaller number of deaths. But even the death toll itself is low for such a large country. Merkel's ambition is to increase the rate to 200,000 samples per day, German media reports. The goal is to test all who believe they are carrying the virus, as well as all who have come into contact with confirmed cases. At present, those who have covid-19 symptoms and who have had contact with other coronas infected are being tested.

It is not time to relieve any restrictions, the authorities stress.

Despite the seemingly low mortality rate, Social Minister Jens Spahn warns that the country may be facing a "storm" with new cases coming weeks.

"We cannot rule out that we will have more patients than respirators," he said.

Younger infected

By then, Germany still has 25,000 intensive care units with respirators (29 per 100,000 inhabitants, Sweden 5.8 in the normal case). However, there is a shortage of personnel.

Authorities and experts also want to track infection using cell phones, but it is controversial in a country that has experienced surveillance by Nazi and East German secret police Stasis, reports AFP.

The Germans have also apparently so far managed to protect their elderly well, which is believed to explain some of the lower mortality. The median age of those infected with the coronavirus in Germany was set the other day to 46 years, compared to 61 years in Italy, two countries with similar age structure.

It probably also contributes to the fact that the infection spread in Germany among younger people, skiers who had been in the Italian and Austrian Alps, while reaching aging in Italy earlier.

"We can probably expect Germany's mortality rate to rise slowly as the outbreak spreads more among risk groups, and we can probably expect Italian mortality to decrease somewhat," Michael Head, a leading researcher in global health, told Wired magazine.