Lack of testing in Eastern Europe deflating ‘numbers’ of crisis
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On the face of it, the map of Europe’s struggle with coronavirus suggests the prospects for the eastern half of the continent are much less grim than for the western half.
The combined death toll to date across more than a dozen countries is less than the number of fatalities on any given recent day in Italy.
The highest numbers of infections are in the Czech Republic and Poland, with 2,541 cases and 1,638 cases respectively, still a fraction of the numbers in most western European countries.
Partly this could be down to lockdown measures introduced at an early stage in the outbreak. But there is also a worry that the figures are deflated by a much lower testing rate than in western Europe.
Hungary, for example, has conducted less than a quarter of the number of tests that neighbouring Austria has, despite having a slightly larger population. Britain, where lack of testing is also a serious concern, has conducted many more tests per capita than most countries in eastern Europe.
The Guardianreports Of course, the low number of confirmed cases has to do with the low amount of testing. I have a colleague who has symptoms, he has stayed at home for the past five days and he hasn’t been tested yet,” said one doctor at a Budapest hospital who asked to speak anonymously.
“We still don’t have enough protective equipment,” said the doctor in Budapest. Although there had been only 343 confirmed cases in Hungary, she said there was already a shortage of equipment for doctors working with coronavirus patients.
