Our Parliament was still up and running until a couple of days ago, Edy. So yes, our cabinet must have been in close contact on many occasions. About half of them could be down with it at this rate.

certainly the most recent cabinet meeting in the last couple of days was by videolink

Beth Rigby what a twatt

That's one of multiple reasons. Nobody obviously really knows for sure at this stage. Reasons that people consider are mostly:

1. As you say we test a lot, one of the highest test per capita rates
2. Even though we test more than others overall, last I checked, we don't test post mortem (unlike Italy and I think the UK too). So the terminally ill person whose life was reduced possibly ever so slightly in Bergamo will be tested in Italy even after his death as far as I know, and then counted as a death in relation to covid-19 if the test is positive. The same does not necessarily apply to Germany.
3. The average age of infected in Germany, as of right now, is far far lower than it is in Italy. I'd have to look up the numbers, but I think in Italy it was something like 60 something while in Germany it was maybe 47. In Germany, the virus was really initially spread a lot among and by ski ressort holiday goers. So that's why the not so elderly age group is affected. Germans are also less social than Italy and also tend to not live multi-generational in the same house/flat (i.e less of a chance of spreading from mild/no sympton young person to grandparents/elderly people in general
4. This obviously isn't true for all parts of Germany, but air is generally cleaner than it is in northern Italy, which has some of the worst pollution in all of Europe. Better air quality will likely contribute to less severe respiratory illnesses.
5. Germany has far better capacities regarding ventilators and beds in ICUs.

6. Germany are the real leaders of the EU and have the best of everything first

wasn't one in uk counted because a young girl committed suicide because she had it

Thanks Edy. That's given me plenty to digest. I hadn't heard the idea about the average age being much lower.

Hospital beds certainly do seem to help in something like this. I've heard that the Dutch have a very low number of hospital beds for their population, which is probably a significant contributing factor in their malaise. God help us in a couple of weeks time!

1st time, I think we're trying to undercount, if anything. We only count those who die in hospital. All of those dying at home and (particularly) in nursing homes are left out of the figures. Supposedly we also omit anyone whose family hasn't given permission for their 'number' to be added to the statistics, which sounds like another clever excuse for cutting the figures.

And then there's our strange lack of testing, which I'm sure is a deliberate tactic designed to result in lower figures being published.

Uk govt must be laughing stock of world, PM, Health Minister and chief medical officer down with covid, who's next, Gove. Ant and Dec will be running the country next week.

Injera, a lot of people with it suffer from high temperatures. Places like South Korea and Taiwan get people to constantly have their temperatures checked. If the figure's high, they're quickly referred to conveniently located drive-in test centres where they can be checked out. Results are out in a few hours.  If somebody has it they can be treated in isolation, and good detective work will uncover the other places they've been and people they've had close contact with recently. Tracking those down allows them to identify CV hotspots and close them off.  Lots of spadework, but it seems to be working.

I see HJ. But if one has a high temperature the natural thing to do is stay home anyway.

Local North Yorks news on tv, week behind London who are spreading it, that 5hithole should be shut down, southern idiots spreading their illegal refugees and now virus!!!

Injera, if you think the high temperature might be CV, then you get yourself tested. Or at least, you do if it's quite easy to get tested, and if you're a good South Korean who doesn't want to run any risk of unwittingly infecting anyone else! Plus, supposedly many businesses force you to take a temperature test before you can go to work etc. That way you're more or less forced to get yourself checked out. A bit draconian, but I'm sure even us Brits would be prepared to submit to that if it meant all our businesses, restaurants etc. stayed open.

Probably more to do with complacency amongst most of the Europeans. Asia also had lots of problems with earlier CV outbreaks (particularly SARS), and were better-prepared to take action.  Mind you, that also meant there was plenty of information which the Europeans could learn from, had they wished..

I,d read west midlands was due to seomone returning ftrom abroad without informing /telling anyone and mixing with a large church group of older people