Denmark lifted all restrictions on coronavirus pandemic

Denmark returned to normal on Friday after the last restrictions have been removed imposed by the coronavirus pandemic, following the announcement made at the end of August by the government.

The removal of the restrictions was scheduled for October 1, but was brought forward by three weeks because the authorities consider the epidemic under control and due to the high level of the vaccinated population, more than 73%.

Denmark had already phased out indoor chin straps in June and, as of September 1, capacity limitations for large events had been lifted and nightclubs reopened, although you still had to present a “COVID passport” to access certain places.

This requirement fell on Friday, when the categorization of the coronavirus as serious illness for society, which had made it possible to introduce many restrictions and whose removal was demanded by the majority of parties.

One of the countries with the most vaccines and the fewest deaths

Denmark has some of the highest immunization figures in the world: 75.7% of the total population has started the process (over 86% of those over 12) and 73.1% have completed it, according to the latest official data.

The rate of new cases per 100,000 population in the past 14 days is 192.35, according to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), while hospital occupancy remains at moderate levels.

Just over 2,600 people have died from COVID-19, with a death rate of 44.70 per 100,000 population, according to the Johns Hopkins University tally, a quarter that of Spain and one of the lowest figures in Europe.

“From day to day it is the same again, but that does not mean that there is no danger. Over the past year and a half, the virus has mutated several times, I do not can therefore not guarantee anything. But compared to many other countries, Denmark is in a good place, “Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said on Friday.

Heunicke urged those who did not to get vaccinated and maintaining good habits, such as hand hygiene, getting tested and self-isolating if you have symptoms.

The head of Health had warned the day the lifting of restrictions was announced that the epidemic is not over and that the government “will not hesitate” to act quickly in case the coronavirus “threatens important functions of our society”. excluded at the same time there will be significant restrictions at the national level.

Test and trace to keep the epidemic under control

Like the rest of the Nordic countries, Denmark has not confined its population or imposed the use of the chinstrap outdoors, although yes approved a wide closure of economic life and social during the first and second waves of the coronavirus.

But Danish authorities have brought the outbreak under control to moderate to low levels of hospitalizations and deaths since February, thanks to a strategy based on massive tests, contact tracing and test sequencing.

Thus, a slow de-escalation began in April which has accelerated since June, when indoor masks were abolished except in transport (under certain assumptions), supported above all by the introduction of a “COVID passport”.

Source: EFE