Covid: Denmark is ending most virus restrictions, as Sweden is expanding them
Mads Claus Rasmussen / AP
The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that while the Omicron variant is increasing in Denmark, it does not place a heavy burden on the health system and the country has a high vaccination rate.
The Government of Denmark says that it will abolish most pandemic restrictions next week, even when neighboring Sweden extends its own measures by another fourteen days.
The Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that from 1 February, Danes will have free access to restaurants, cafés, museums and nightclubs, while mask use will cease to be mandatory.
“We say goodbye to the restrictions and welcome the life we felt before,” said the pandemic, Frederiksen said. “From 1 February, Denmark will be open.”
Denmark currently requires face masks on public transport, in shops, for standing customers in indoor restaurants and for people entering hospitals, health care facilities and nursing homes.
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From 1 February, the government will only recommend the use of worms in hospitals, care facilities and nursing homes.
Frederiksen said that while the Omicron variant is increasing in Denmark, it does not place a heavy burden on the health system and the country has a high vaccination frequency.
“It may seem strange that we want to remove restrictions given the high infection rates,” she said. “But fewer people get seriously ill.”
In recent weeks, Denmark has seen more than 46,000 daily cases on average, but only 40 people are currently in hospital intensive care units – a decrease from 80 a few weeks ago – said Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke.
Heunicke urged Danes to get tested regularly. “We continue with strong epidemic surveillance. Then we can react quickly if needed. ”
Frederiksen warned that Denmark could see an increase in the number of infections in the coming weeks, and added that a fourth vaccination shot may prove necessary.
The restrictions that will be scrapped next week were originally introduced in July but became so removed about ten weeks later after a successful vaccination. They were reintroduced when the infections soared.
In 2020, Denmark became one of the first European countries to close schools due to the pandemic, and sent home all public employees without critical functions.
Earlier on Thursday, Sweden extended several coronavirus restrictions by two weeks.
Minister of Social Affairs Lena Hallengren said that the country, which had previously stood out among European nations for its comparatively practical pandemic response, has “an extremely record spread of infection.”
Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of the Swedish Public Health Agency, says that the infections are expected to decrease within a couple of weeks. She said that Sweden had 270,000 new infections in the past week and that “our estimate is that during this period at least half a million can fall ill per week.”
Sweden has ordered cafes, bars and restaurants to close at 23.00 and urged people to work from home whenever possible.
In another Scandinavian country, Finland, Prime Minister Sanna Marin tweeted that “the government will assess the necessity of (the) restrictions.”
She added that it “should consider opening low-risk cultural and sporting events with a Covid pass and extend restaurant opening hours on a faster schedule than previously estimated.”