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Denmark’s finance minster ill with suspected coronavirus

Denmark's finance minister, Nicolai Wammen, has fallen ill and will be tested for coronavirus, the country's finance ministry has said in a statement sent out to Danish journalists.

Published: 6 May 2020 14:51 CEST

Denmark's finance minster ill with suspected coronavirus

Nicolai Wammen as he presented local government funding reforms on Tuesday. Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

“The Finance Ministry states that the finance minister has become sick and displayed symptoms which mean that he, on his doctor's advice, will not be tested for Corona,” the statement read. “The minister hopes to return to work as soon as possible.”

Wammen is one of the most heavyweight politicians in Denmark's Social Democrat government, having served as both EU minister and Defence Minister under Helle Thorning-Schmidt from 2011 until 2015.

His department in March and early April launched a succession of bold and far-reaching measures to limit the impact of the coronavirus shut down on Denmark's economy, winning it praise internationally.

On Tuesday, Wammen announced a significant funding reform for Denmark's municipalities, in one of the first actions his department has taken unrelated to coronavirus in more than a month.

Kristian Jensen, who served as finance minister, in the previous government, wished Wammen a swift recovery on Twitter.

“Despite our political differences, we need to have the finance minister back at work as soon as possible,” he said.

God bedring @NWammen Uanset vores politiske uenigheder, så har vi brug for at have Finansministeren tilbage på jobbet hurtigst muligt https://t.co/WaLXz07EHa #dkpol

— Kristian Jensen (@Kristian_Jensen) May 6, 2020

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IN NUMBERS: Has the Omicron Covid-19 wave peaked in Denmark?

Graffiti in the Copenhagen hippy enclave of Christiania complaining of Omicron's impact on Christmas. Photo: Philip Davali/Scanpix

How many cases, hospitalisations and deaths are there in Denmark?

Denmark registered 12,588 new cases in the 24 hours leading up to 2pm on Saturday, down from the 18,261 registered on in the day leading up to Friday at 2pm, which was itself a decline from the record 28,283 cases recorded on Wednesday.

The cases were identified by a total of 174,517 PCR tests, bringing the positive percentage to 7.21 percent, down from the sky high rates of close to 12 percent seen in the first few days of January.

The number of cases over the past seven days is lower than the week before in almost every municipality in Denmark, with only Vallensbæk, Aarhus, Holseterbro, Skanderborg, Hjørring, Vordingborg, Ringkøbing, Kolding, Assens, Horsens, Thisted, and Langeland reporting rises.

Hospitalisations have also started to fall, with some 730 patients being treated for Covid-10 on Saturday, down from 755 on Friday. On Tuesday, 794 were being treated for Covid-19 in Danish hospitals, the highest number since the peak of the 2020-21 winter wave.

The only marker which has not yet started to fall is the number of deaths, which tends to trail infections and hospitalisations.

In the 24 hours leading up to 2pm on Saturday, Denmark registered 28 deaths with Covid-19, the highest daily number recorded since 20 January 2021, when 29 people died with Covid-19 (although Denmark’s deadliest day was the 19 January 2021, when 39 people died).

How does Denmark compare to other countries in Europe?

Over the last seven days, Denmark has had the highest Covid-19 case rate of any country in Europe bar Ireland. The number of new infections in the country has climbed steadily since the start of December, apart from a brief fall over Christmas.

So does this mean the omicron wave has peaked?

Maybe, although experts are not sure.

“Of course, you can hope for that, but I’m not sure that is the case,” said Christian Wejse, head of the Department for Infectious Diseases at Aarhus University Hospital. “I think it is too early to conclude that the epidemic has peaked.”

He said that patients with the Omicron variant were being discharged more rapidly on average than had been the case with those who had the more dangerous Delta variant.

“Many admissions are relatively short-lived, thankfully. This is because many do not become that il, and are largely hospitalized because they are suffering with something else. And if they are stable and do not need oxygen, then they are quickly discharged again.”

Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said during a visit to an event held by the Social Liberal party that the latest numbers made her even more optimistic about the coming month.

“We have lower infection numbers and the number of hospitalisations is also plateauing,” she said. “I think we’re going to get through this winter pretty well, even if it will be a difficult time for a lot of people, and we are beginning to see the spring ahead of us, so I’m actually very optimistic.”

She said that she had been encouraged by the fact that Omicron was a “visibly less dangerous variant if it is not allowed to explode.”

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