compares with three

[Maybo]

And across the country, the rate of testing, about 1.3 per 1,000 people, compares with three in the US and 15 in the UK.
(India Covid: How bad is the second wave? by Shruti Menon)

Why is "compares with" used but not "compared with"? Why is active voice used but not passive voice?

 

[jutfrank]

It's because compares is the main verb of the sentence. Notice that the phrase that provides the numerical information is enclosed in commas before it.

It isn't very common to use compare as a main verb like this to make a comparison. More commonly, the sentence structure would be something like this:

And across the country, the rate of testing is about 1.3 per 1,000 people, compared to three in the US and 15 in the UK.