Coronavirus Germany: Where do we stand one year on? | COVID-19 Special

A year has passed since the first COVID-19 cases were reported in Germany. Meanwhile the virus has claimed more than 56,000 lives in the country. More than 2 million people have been infected. And the number keeps climbing. Over the past 12 months, we've had to adjust our day-to-day lives to a new reality that we could hardly have imagined before. It's been a whole year since the prospect of a family holiday has become a remote prospect, even impossible. A year of keeping our distance from friends, colleagues – even our own families. And every day we witness the consequences of the pandemic: Restaurants shuttered, inner cities deserted. Public life has come to a standstill.
Germany first came across COVID-19 at the offices of an automotive supplier in Bavaria.
It's where a 33-year-old employee caught the novel virus from a co-worker who had travelled there from China. He became Patient Number One.
German officials were quick to assure the public the country was taking the virus seriously, and that there was no cause for alarm. The World Health Organization called for simple measures like more hand washing. But infections spread – to every region in Germany. Contact tracing became impossible.
Germany's hold on the virus gave way to the free spread of COVID-19.
Then just 6-weeks after the first case was discovered, Germany announced the closing of schools. By the end of March, a nationwide lockdown meant the work place and the school day had to compete for attention in homes across the country.
The bulk of people in Germany seemed to take the restrictions in stride and agree with them. With the budding spring, Germany slowly started opening up again.
By the start of May, nearly 7,000 people in Germany had died.
Meanwhile elsewhere in Europe, the numbers ranged from more than 24,000 to over 28,000 deaths:
Germany 6,736
Italy 28,306
United Kingdom 27,323
Spain 25,728
France 24,570
In comparision with many European neighbors, Germany appeared to have weathered the height of the crisis fairly well. Many people enjoyed the warm summer months.
But then fall arrived and cases began to rise again. By November a so-called "lockdown light" was in place, despite calls both for stricter measures, and protests against them.
But the mini-lockdown didn't work. Cases rose at alarming rates, with more and more patients needed intensive care. By the Christmas holidays, restrictions had been tightened again. After the New Year, schools and shops remained shut. The latest extension of Germany's lockdown will continue through February.

Follow DW on social media:
#Coronavirus #Covid19 #Germany

[dwnews]

As always, we'd love to include your questions in our upcoming shows! What would you like to know about the coronavirus pandemic? #askDerrick

[diegodevi]

I am just here to read the comments, I am really tired of watching the news.

[genekelly]

International travel has to be halted for at least 6 months.

[silvialogan]

Where I live in Canada, travel from Mexico and the Caribbean have been halted until April 30.

[mdml]

If people didn't travel all over last summer and border entry was stricter and imposed an effective contact tracing method on arrivals could this current uncontrolled rise in infections have been prevented?

[lekiscool]

There was a lot of things we did early on in my town, that wasn’t safe covid protocols.

[harrykelvin]

Bitcoin is the feature investing in it now is the wesest thing to do now especially the current rise

[untouchablex]

Brothels are still closed. That's the only thing that matters.

[sweetguy]

EU has been slowest in ordering vaccines even. In countries like Israel and UAE more than 30 percent population has already been vaccinated. Instead of focusing on how it has expanded and putting lockdown which is just a temporary work around, one thing can be sure to vaccinate it fast and get back to normal life. Just try to vaccine heavily and apply the rules that anyone who comes to Germany or other EU countries would need to be vaccinated and produce the certificate or give them shots in the airport and open the economy simple. I mean we have already passed a year we cant just simply sit and keep guessing.

[Arnulfojr]

12 months and a 11:57 minutes video, should have increased the video for 3 seconds!

[chrismartin]

Why do I bother watching? The faint hope that I can gleam a bit of new information I suppose. Sure viral outbreaks are unique in only that the virus is different but it was clear in January that this was significantly worse than anything yet and immediate action was required. Later on another "expert" tell us nobody can predict the future but we were capable as a person and society to consider the past and thus adjust our actions/reactions. I just find these shows to be so simple full of simple people asking other "expert" simpletons simple questions. Even the "journalist" admits she wasn't capable of understanding what was going on in March. Personally by February I had ordered two masks and had 47 gallons of water on hand.

[jbird]

Why would mass vaccination be the only way back to normal when this virus is harmless for most people? @DWNews Do you care to explain why my more elaborate comment on this was removed? It seems to me you leave all sorts of borderline insane comments untouched, but you remove one that very reasonably criticizes your own reporting.

[geotubar]

If a vaccine is 66% effective and herd immunity is achieved when 70% of the population is immune, even with 100% people vaccinated, herd immunity can never be achieved. Is that a logical argument?

[bill]

Or develop effective therapeutics that can keep people out of the hospital. If the sickness can be treated then we don't have to fear it and we can let it run its course. I never feared getting sick; I feared dying from it.
Btw, I got my first Pfizer vax on Saturday and will get my 2nd 21 days later.

[michaelstevens]

Lets hear about the EUs reaction to Pfizer and their shortage of vaccines.

[lvjinbin]

because Germany doesn't verify cases earliest, test cases most, lock cases strictest, don't make excuse anymore.

[yt-xolb]

When I will be posible to earn million euros whit my useles hospilaty and mecanic education?

[geisterfahreruberholer]

Where we stand?
On the edge.

Buisnesses got some help by the state. Ok, fine. But this is just state-debts. Someone needs to pay that somewhere in the future.
But atleast we have good finances in general. Just imagine south-EU and their debts, .They will ask for money again.
And this time, Germans wont be so naive thinking nations like Greece or Spain will adapt what we Germans would do in an instant.
Nah, they will complain that they are forced to balance their income and outcome, like in 2008 and so on.

EU could collapse due to that. Just imagine a nation like Italy going bankcrupt. Whole EU would be done then. Greece was childsplay compared to that.

I really dont want to be a pessimist, but I just dont see a positive outcome for us Germans or the EU in general.

[dailydoseofmedicinee]

The German Health Ministry confirmed that the UK, Brazil and South Africa variants of the virus have been recently detected in the country, and announced a new program to closely track coronavirus mutations.

[themonkeymanofStockbridge]

This reporting is incorrect: it has not been a whole year since we had the chance of a family holiday! that is the whole problem. Over Easter and over the summer even in the Autumn people all over Germany traveled wherever they wanted.
Get your reporting right!