Coronavirus, Denmark | Denmark will remove all infection control orders from 1 February
From 1 February, covid-19 will no longer be considered a socially critical disease in Denmark, confirms Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke. It reported Danish TV 2 Wednesday morning.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has called for a press conference at 18.00.
Denmark continues to experience sky-high infection rates, and opinions are divided on whether it is time to remove the last remnants of strict restrictions when the month is over.
– What speaks for removing the relief now is that the virus does not make so many sick. We are gradually finding it difficult to get admitted to intensive care in Denmark. Had we started with the omicron variant, we probably would not have introduced any restrictions, says Jan Pravsgaard Christensen, immunologist and professor at the University of Copenhagen, to Nettavisen.
Pressure on kindergartens, schools and the health service
– What speaks against?
– What speaks against right now is that we have many daily cases of infection. It puts pressure on kindergartens, schools and the health service because many are infected and therefore on sick leave. I also apply it elsewhere. With sick leave and a few days in isolation, it’s hard to make it go awry. Here, it would probably have been better to wait a few weeks to remove the restrictions, so we could see the infection curve turn around, Christensen says.
– No longer a legal basis in law
– When covid-19 is no longer categorized as a socially critical disease, a number of provisions in the Epidemic Act can no longer be applied. This implies that there will no longer be a legal basis in the law for laying down regulations which presuppose that covid-19 is categorized as a socially critical disease. The current rules will lapse when the categorization as socially critical diseases is abolished on 1 February 2022, writes Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke in a letter to the Danish Parliament.
Thus, the last infection control restrictions are about to fall (see fact box).
Danish advice and rules which apply until 1 February
- Employers are encouraged to ensure that employees who have the opportunity can work from home.
- Virtual meetings and seminars are encouraged.
- It is encouraged to cancel major social events in the workplace.
- Employers may require employees to show corona passports.
- Employers may also – under certain conditions – require employees to be tested for covid-19 and provide information on the test result.
- There are requirements for corona passes and requirements for face masks or visors in service professions such as tattooists, piercings, spas, beauty care, hairdressers and driving schools.
- There are requirements for face masks or visors for customers in the retail trade, including grocery stores, shopping malls and takeaway restaurants.
- It is forbidden to sell and pour alcohol in the period from 22.00 to 05.00 in shops / restaurants.
- The nightlife is closed, ie nightclubs, discos and the like will not be open.
- Indoor and outdoor restaurants must be closed between 23:00 and 05:00.
- The Korona passport must be displayed in a number of places, such as restaurants and cafes, trains, express buses, secondary schools and upper secondary schools.
- If there are more than 500 spectators or spectators at a cultural event (eg concert or theater), section division requirements apply. There must be a maximum of 500 people per. section and a maximum of 1500 people in the total event.
The Danish government has convened a press conference at 6 pm and will present the conclusion and the advice and recommendations that will apply from 31 January. On Tuesday, it became known that the government has received clear advice from the Epidemic Commission to lift virtually all restrictions.
Every tenth employee is infected
BUPL, which organizes teachers and kindergarten educators in Denmark and is a sister organization to the Education Association in Norway, expresses concern:
– We have to look at what we offer the family in a moment. In some places it is about to collapse, says Elisa Rimpler, to Danish TV 2. She is the leader of BUPL and describes a situation in the kindergartens where every tenth employee was infected last week. She talks about a staffing situation that in some places gets new adults every day – over several weeks.
– That’s as far as we are concerned. We need to get through this and out on the other side in a proper way. We will give the children a good childhood, she says.
Increasing sickness absence also in Norway
Also in Norway, several industries express concerns about sickness absence, which in week 3 was almost twice as high as it usually is, according to recent Nav figures for sickness absence certified by a doctor.
– It’s going awry, said Gro Iren Abrahamsen, deputy leader of the Education Association in Viken, to Nettavisen on Tuesday. They receive many messages from tired teachers and confirm that the workload is great in schools and kindergartens.
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21.8 percent positive tests
The corona statistics in Denmark are updated every day at 2 p.m. Tuesday’s figures showed a further 46,590 registered cases of infection in the last 24 hours and 24 new hospitalized covid patients in the hospitals, 918 inpatients in total.
The proportion infected among the 231,616 PCR tests taken in the last 24 hours is 21.8 percent. This is the highest so far in the pandemic, reports NTB via the Danish news agency Ritzau.
These are the infection control measures and recommendations in Denmark
Skeptical professor
Among those who are skeptical of a too rapid reopening is also Professor Hans Jørgen Kolmos, professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Southern Denmark. He points to the sharp increase in infection and the high positive percentage.
He believes that it is likely that the infection curve will be broken within a few weeks and that in mid-February some of the restrictions can be lifted.
He calls it a purely political decision on the restrictions now.
– Nothing has changed when it comes to the justification for the restrictions. On the contrary, we introduced them at significantly lower numbers, says Kolmos to Ritzau and claims that Denmark has time to experience an infection that is almost out of control.
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– Do not see the big problem
Other experts believe that it is prudent to reopen now:
– Despite high infection rates, there are not many in the intensive care units or in the respirator. And among the elderly in nursing homes, not many are critical. I do not see the big problem in terms of health, says Allan Randrup Thomsen, professor of viral infections at the University of Copenhagen to Denmark’s radio.
However, he said that he would like a gradual lifting of the restrictions and that a reopening of nightclubs and parts of cultural life, for example, should wait.
Admissions are increasing
Denmark has currently registered the world’s second highest infection pressure, with 7,790 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last few weeks. The corresponding figure for Norway is 3536, according to the survey Johns Hopkins University, reports NTB.
The number of hospital admissions with corona is on the rise in Denmark. On Tuesday, the number of posts increased by 24 to 918, of which 44 are in intensive care units, 28 in respirators.
But although it has increased sharply since the New Year, unlike in the past, it is not as a sharp increase in the number of inpatients.
Far from everyone is hospitalized due to the coronavirus. About 30–40 percent of those who have tested positive are hospitalized for reasons other than corona, according to the National Board of Health.
14 new deaths have also been recorded. Thus, the total number of deaths with corona since the pandemic started, has risen to 3635.
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