Re low german figures, a long article in the mail. But basically they're testing everyone even with very mild symptoms whereas Italy are stretched and only testing the most seriously ill. Doesn't mean the German system is performing exceptionally well at treating people.
The true death rate of the coronavirus is unknown three months into the global outbreak because of differences in testing programmes and hospital capacity in countries around the world. Germany's low death rate has been attributed to rigorous testing of patients with even mild illnesses, but the epidemic there is still in its early days so more people are likely to die in the coming weeks. In Italy, however, hospitals are overwhelmed and testing is struggling to keep up, meaning that many of the people who get diagnosed are already seriously ill and more likely to die, pushing the death rate up. In the UK only hospital patients are tested, which makes the death rate (5.2 per cent) inaccurate because it only reflects deaths among seriously ill people.