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Denmark updates coronavirus cases to 23 and confirms first recovery

The Local Denmark
The Local Denmark - [email protected]
Denmark updates coronavirus cases to 23 and confirms first recovery
Photo: Henning Bagger/Ritzau Scanpix

A further eight people have been confirmed as having tested positive for coronavirus in Denmark, the country’s Patient Safety Authority (Styrelsen for Patientsikkerhed, DPSA) said in an update.

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That brings the total confirmed number of infections in Denmark to 23, including one case on the Faroe Islands.

The agency is in the process of tracing people who may have been in close contact with the new cases, the agency said via a statement on Thursday evening, in which it confirmed five of the eight most recent cases. Three further cases were added to the total on the DPSA website on Friday morning. 

Persons who have been in close contact with confirmed infections are placed in home quarantine. 425 people are currently quarantined, according to DPSA's latest update.

No further information has been released as to the age, gender or place of residence of the newly-infected individuals.

The first Dane to have been diagnosed has now been given a full bill of health, meanwhile, and can return home to his family, broadcaster TV2 reports.

“Now I'm free. I am simply healthy, so now I can go out,” said the man, Jakob Tage Ramlyng, who works for TV2.

Ramlyng became Denmark’s first confirmed case of coronavirus after returning from a skiing holiday in Northern Italy.

He briefly went into work after returning home, which resulted in 16 TV2 employees being placed in home quarantine.

“The patient [Ramlyng, ed.] has been symptom-free for more than 24 hours. He has been assessed by an experienced consultant in infectious disease, who finds him healthy and no longer infected with Covid19,” Peder Fabricius, a senior consultant doctor at Zealand University Hospital, told TV2.

Ramlyng's wife and two children tested negative for coronavirus. He was initially quarantined with his family at his home in Roskilde, from where he spoke openly about his experience via social media. He later to another apartment so that his family's quarantine period need not be extended.

22 further cases have since been reported since the first infection was confirmed in Denmark one week ago.

All previous cases in the country have so far been traced to travel abroad, but no information in this regard was provided relating to the five new cases on Thursday.

The Danish foreign ministry has updated its travel advice and now advises against all unnecessary travel to the four active outbreak regions in northern Italy: Emilia-Romagna, Lombardy, Piedmont and Veneto.

The ministry also advises against unnecessary travel to mainland China; the province of Gyeongbuk and the city of Daegu in South Korea; and all of Iran. All travel to Hubei province in China is advised against, regardless of the reason for the trip.

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

DPSA said it expects further cases to be confirmed in the coming days, including instances of infection between people in Denmark.

How do coronavirus infection numbers in Denmark compare to the rest of Europe?
 

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The Danish government has introduced a number of measures aimed at hindering and limiting the spread of the coronavirus in the country.

As such, the Danish Health Authority (Sundhedsstyrelsen) is asking anyone who has travelled to outbreak areas (as listed above) to stay at home. The advice applies to anyone who returned home after March 2nd.

In a measure aimed at protecting the country's sick and elderly from exposure to the virus, all healthcare workers in the country who have travelled to outbreak areas within in the last 14 days will now be required to remain at home.

The list of areas encompassed by the Danish rules will be reviewed and, if necessary, updated on an ongoing basis. You can check the current list via the  Danish Health Authority website.

If you are concerned you might have symptoms and have recently travelled to a risk area, you should NOT go straight to your doctor or hospital in person. You can read more about symptoms in our paywall-free information article.

Health authorities are worried about potentially infected people turning up at hospitals and passing on the virus.

Therefore, you should always start by contacting your doctor by telephone. Remember to state that you have been in the area of infection, if this is the case.

The coronavirus situation in Denmark remains less serious than in other countries, but you can keep up to date with the latest news via this article, which also includes official guidelines on the everyday precautions you can take and what to do if you have travelled to outbreak areas or are concerned about symptoms. The article will be updated on an ongoing basis.

We are keeping the article paywall-free, which means it will remain open to new or occasional readers. An explanation of this decision can be found at the bottom of the article.

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