Advertisement

Two new coronavirus infections confirmed in Denmark

The Local Denmark
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Two new coronavirus infections confirmed in Denmark
Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

The total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in Denmark is now at six.

Advertisement

Two new cases of coronavirus infection have been confirmed by the Danish Patient Safety Authority (Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed) on the agency’s website.

Both new cases are Danish nationals who returned to the country on February 29th from holiday in northern Italy.

They are not connected to each other, however, and were infected and travelled home separately.

On Monday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs updated its official travel guidelines to advise against all non-essential travel to Italian regions Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto.

Also on Monday, 127 people were put in quarantine at their homes in response to the country's four prior confirmed cases of coronavirus infection.

Of the four previous Danish coronavirus cases, two of these had recently returned from trips to northern Italy. One had travelled to a conference in Munich, Germany and the final individual has been connected to one of the northern Italy infections. All four people are not considered to be seriously ill.

READ ALSO: Coronavirus in Denmark: What's the latest news and how concerned should you be?

No information has been released as to the gender, age or place of residence in Denmark of the two latest cases.

The Patient Safety Authority is now working to trace people who may have been in close contact with the two.

People who have been in contact with infected persons are normally placed in home quarantine for up to 14 days. Quarantine is used if, after thorough assessment of the individual, it is considered that there is a high risk that they may have been exposed to infection.

The Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen, DHA) has estimated that as many as 500,000 people in the country (less than 10 percent of the population) could catch the virus in a worst-case scenario, but that the majority would not become sick enough to need care from the health services.

According to John Hopkins University, a total of 90,000 infections have now been registered globally, the vast majority in China.

The total number of people who have been confirmed to have recovered is up to 48,000.

The World Health Organisation has said that more than 80 percent of patients infected with the virus have mild symptoms and recover, while 14 percent develop severe diseases such as pneumonia. 

Around five percent of cases are considered critical, while only 2 percent prove fatal. The elderly and people with conditions that weaken their immune system are most likely to develop severe symptoms.

More

Join the conversation in our comments section below. Share your own views and experience and if you have a question or suggestion for our journalists then email us at [email protected].
Please keep comments civil, constructive and on topic – and make sure to read our terms of use before getting involved.

Please log in to leave a comment.

See Also