Denmark is one of the countries in the world with the best overview of the prevalence of the corona variant omikron. The number of people infected with the virus has risen sharply for several weeks.

Despite this, the number of hospital admissions has increased only to a small extent.

– It’s a very good sign. We wish it will hold. The reason why we are a little hesitant to rejoice too soon is that we do not quite know if omikron is evenly distributed in the population, says health director Bjørn Guldvog

He adds that in Denmark there have been many young people infected with omicron.

– Then we are used to what will happen when omikron fully hits the older part of the population, Guldvog adds.

The director of health points out that if there are very many simultaneous infections with omicron, then the variant, no matter how mild, will lead to problems for the health service.

Slight ascent

The Danish Institute of Public Health, Statens Serum Institut, informs by the proportion omikron among those infected on December 23 was 75 percent. Number of covid-19 patients admitted to Danish hospitals was Monday 608. That is about 150 more than at the end of November. During this period, the infection has increased explosively in Denmark.

At the turn of the month, Danes registered about five thousand infected a day. In the last 24 hours, this has risen to over 16,000. In addition come the dark numbers.

Even lower

The number of people admitted to Denmark with covid-19 as the main reason may also be lower than the already low figures show.

– In Denmark, you are registered as a covid-19 patient if you have been infected within the last 14 days. This means that some of those who come in with infection in Danish hospitals do not end up there primarily because they are infected with the virus, but due to other incidents, Guldvog states.

Also Great Britain

Britain went for several days ago over one hundred thousand registered infected a day. The proportion of omikron is approximately the same as in Denmark.

England has for a long time had a significant element omicron in the infection picture. The number of inpatients has increased slightly steeper than in Denmark.

The British figures show that on December 23, 1252 were hospitalized in England. At the turn of the month the number was about seven hundred.

Unclear how mild

Several studies suggest that omicron provides a significantly lower risk of hospitalization. How low remains uncertain.

– In South Africa, it’s the ups and downs. They report a 70 percent decline. Equally gratifying are the figures from Edinburgh and Scotland. They say it may be a decrease of one-third, says Guldvog.

The director of health adds that other countries arrive at much lower figures, down to only a thirty percent reduction.

– So there is a great deal of uncertainty in this, but the fact that it is somewhat less serious individually is probably certain, Guldvog points out.