Denmark has announced the lifting of all domestic restrictions against Covid-19, despite record cases and rising hospitalizations.
Despite record cases and rising hospitalizations, Denmark announced on Wednesday that it would lift all its internal anti-Covid restrictions on February 1, deeming its high vaccination coverage sufficient in the face of the lesser severity of the Omicron variant.
“We say goodbye to restrictions and welcome to life as we knew it before corona,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at a press conference.
The Nordic country is the first in the European Union to take the plunge despite the wave of the Omicron variant, according to the European offices of AFP.
“The strong adherence to the vaccine program has turned out to be what we thought: a ‘super-weapon’, and it has given us a solid defense against the infection that remains”, justified the head of government.
“That is why the government has decided that the coronavirus should no longer be considered a threatening disease for society,” she added.
The end of this designation leads de facto to the lifting from February 1 of all national restrictions currently in force, such as the use of a health pass, the wearing of a mask or the early closing of bars and restaurants.
Restrictions already lifted in September… then reinstated
The Danish government only wants to maintain certain restrictions on entering the territory, namely tests and/or quarantine depending on immunity status, for another four weeks.
The Scandinavian kingdom had already lifted all restrictions on September 10, before reintroducing the health pass in early November and then introducing new restrictions.
For its part, Sweden has deemed it necessary to maintain its restrictions for at least another two weeks. However, Health Minister Lena Hallengren said at a press conference on Wednesday that “most” of the measures could be lifted from February 9, “if the situation stabilizes”.
Faced with a lower level of intensive care hospitalizations than in previous waves, several European countries such as France or the United Kingdom have announced considerable easing or the lifting of most of their restrictions in recent days, despite record or very high cases.
In England, the only legal restriction remaining from Thursday will be isolation for infected people.
In Denmark, it will remain “recommended” to isolate oneself for four days in the event of a positive test, according to the National Health Agency.
Almost 60% of Danes received a booster dose
Wearing a mask and the health pass will also remain recommended for hospital visits.
With more than 46,000 new cases on Tuesday, the contamination rate is extremely high in the Nordic country. “But we have achieved the objective of separating the number of new cases from that of hospitalizations”, justified Minister Magnus Heunicke, who believes that the epidemic will soon reach its peak.
Nearly 60% of the 5.8 million Danes received a booster dose, one month ahead of the schedule envisaged by the health authorities, who consider that 80% of the population is protected against serious forms.
The most vulnerable have, since last week, access to a fourth dose.
The number of hospitalizations due to Covid has continued to rise in recent days and has exceeded 900 patients, but health authorities believe they can cope with the burden.
At the beginning of January, the number of hospitalizations increased by only 16% for an increase in the number of new cases of 35%, they argue. In addition, the number of intensive care admissions has decreased from 74 at the beginning of January to 44 currently.
The National Health Agency estimates that 35% of people currently hospitalized with Covid are in hospital for another pathology.
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