How Germany's testing regime has gone from strength to strength

Widespread testing facilities for COVID-19 in Germany have helped keep the death rate down. /Ina Fassbender/AFP

On Monday, Frankfurt Airport launched a COVID-19 testing center in one of its terminals, the first of its kind in Germany.

A partnership between the airport, airline Lufthansa and Centogene (a world-leading company in rare disease diagnosis), the center allows travelers to take a voluntary test, costing between $66 and $156.

"We have been introducing many measures to make it safe to fly, from digital and contactless services to air filters onboard, so flying was also safe before," Bjoern Becker, Lufthansa's senior director for product management, said in a press conference.

"It is all about making it easier to fly and travel and also to give support to visitors flying in as well," he added.

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This is just one example of the German approach to controlling the pandemic with large-scale testing. The strategy has earned Germany's reputation as one of the most successful countries in Europe in keeping the coronavirus pandemic under control with a low number of deaths.

Germany carries out 405,000 standard COVID-19 tests per week, the highest number registered since data collection started, according to the German Association of Certified Labs (ALM). The organization says, however, around 930,000 tests are available each week, double the current demand.

"In Germany, there is widespread and extensive testing and even screening. Our capacities currently far exceed the requirements, so that we can carry out the planned expansion of the PCR tests for at-risk groups and contact people in nursing homes and hospitals across the board," Evangelos Kotsopoulos, an ALM board member, said in a statement.

A coronavirus testing center at one of Franfurt Airport's terminals is the first of its kind in Germany, a country already renowned for its extensive testing regime. /Daniel Roland/AFP

German Chancellor Angela Merkel has said that overcapacity in coronavirus tests was paramount "to keep track [of the virus] as we lift tighter precautions."

She added: "Should the situation change, we can react at any time."

That has been the case in recent local outbreaks, such as one in a meat processing plant in the North Rhine-Westphalia state. After more than 1,500 workers at the factory tested positive, two districts were put back in lockdown, and the army sent in to check as many residents as possible. To control that outbreak, the German military was able to complete 400 tests per hour.

Most German citizens have responded well to the government's call to follow the health guidelines and get tested. That is in part because health insurance companies have covered the cost of the test for people with symptoms.

This week Jens Spahn, the German health minister, announced the partial health insurance coverage would also be extended to patients with no symptoms, such as those in care homes. Staff and students in schools and kindergartens are also a priority ahead of the beginning of the school year in September, the minister said.

Though the central government advises an approach based on targeted testing, regional officials can apply their own guidelines. On Tuesday, the state of Bavaria announced it would move forward with universal free screening for COVID-19. The state of Berlin has said it would do the same.

"Corona is still breathing down our necks," Markus Soeder, the Bavarian premier, said in a press conference, adding that the tests would be "faster, for free and for everybody."

Check out The Pandemic Playbook, CGTN Europe's major investigation into the lessons learned from COVID-19.