When the novel coronavirus reached the UK and Germany, both governments assessed the risk as low and said they were well prepared. But a detailed analysis by BuzzFeed News of the two countries’ responses since the first cases were reported at the end of January shows how the two countries adopted different approaches in those crucial early weeks.

While Angela Merkel’s government moved quickly to scale up testing and contact tracing of those infected, Boris Johnson’s initial strategy, on the basis of the recommendations of his top scientific advisers, continued to focus primarily on hygiene recommendations while schools, mass gatherings, work, and leisure activities continued.

Nearly three months since their first positive cases, Germany has conducted more than 1.3 million tests and contact tracing remains central to its strategy. The UK has carried out fewer than 335,000 tests and all but dropped attempts to aggressively trace contacts. About 3,000 people have died so far in Germany. More than 10,000 have died in the UK.

This timeline reveals how British and German leaders communicated about this crisis at every step, and shows that they prepared differently and rolled out key measures to fight the virus at different times. Decisions delayed by just a few days may have had a significant impact.

