Danish health authorities seek volunteers to track coronavirus

SSI, the national laboratory responsible for tracing infectious diseases in the country, is recruiting people to sign up to its  Influmeter website, which has long been used to track influenza in the country. 

 

Since Denmark moved into the mitigation phase of its pandemic strategy on March 12, it has only been testing those are require medical treatment or who are in a special risk group. 

 

“You cannot compare the numbers of detected COVID-19 cases from before and after March 12, as the testing strategies were quite different,” Tyra Grove Krause, Head of the SSI Department of Infectious Epidemiology, said in a press release. 

 

As the majority of those infected with coronavirus experiencing only mild symptoms, this means the 1,132 who have tested positive for the virus only represents a small fraction of those who have contracted it. 

 

“We want to get an impression of the spread of infection in society, among those who do not go to a doctor but just stay home because they are half sick as well,” Grove Krause told Danish public broadcaster DR. 

 

You can sign up to take part here.