Germany ramps up coronavirus tests to 500,000 a week

Germany has boosted its coronavirus test rate to 500,000 a week, with the early detection helping in part to keep the country's death toll relatively low, a virologist said Thursday.

"The reason why Germany has so few deaths compared to the number of infected people can be explained by the fact that we carry out an extremely large number of laboratory diagnostic tests," said Christian Drosten, who heads the Institute of Virology at Berlin's Charite University Hospital.

"Estimates from the last days show that we are carrying out half a million tests a week," he added.