What we learned from Peter Limbourg’s NBS TV interview on Germany’s handling of COVID-19

With President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni last Monday evening moving to extend the lockdown by an extra 14 days with slightly relaxed measures, need to look back at an interview in which a country of interest in as far as COVID-19 is concerned, Germany, was highlighted is inevitable.

There has been extensive interest in the German healthcare system since the coronavirus outbreak. The infections in Germany rose very steeply, yet, their death rate has been lower than other countries got by a similar magnitude of infections.

NBS Television yet again took the lead and engaged Peter Limbourg, Director-General of DW News, to try and understand what measures the German government had put in place to manage the crisis.

Limbourg said, “Germany took decisions quickly and didn’t undermine the disease as other countries appeared to do.” This is a method that has so far also proven to work in Uganda where measures were taken even before a COVID-19 case had been recorded in Uganda. He added, “Germany is a Federal state, …in case one state makes a mistake, it likely won’t be transferred to other states since they are decentralized.”

The superiority of Germany when it comes to medical infrastructure cannot also be overlooked since their adequate Intensive Care Units were just enough to handle any critical cases.

The coronavirus pandemic has ravaged the entire world with over 3 million cases confirmed. Access to the right information has been emphasized by stakeholders as fake news jeopardized World Health Organization measures.

NBS Television has locally championed the fight against COVID-19-related fake news, introducing a specialized broadcast for coronavirus updates, where among other things, fact-checks have been emphasized.

Also, through their partnership with DW News, they have been able to air accurate information from Germany and the rest of the world. DW News also provide updates on their lunchtime news bulletin, “NBS Live@1” as well as “Lunchtime Sports,” which also airs on their sister-station, Sanyuka TV.