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Denmark gives green light to children’s pyjama parties

Children in Denmark have been given the green light to play with as many friends as they like, for as long as they want, and even to hold pyjama parties.

Published: 14 May 2020 09:45 CEST

Denmark gives green light to children's pyjama parties

Children should be able to play with two or more friends at once. Photo: Linda Kastrup/Ritzau Scanpix

In new guidelines issued on Wednesday, the Danish Health Authority said it was no longer advising that children have play dates with a maximum of two other children at one time, and said that friends could even stay overnight.

“We have chosen to move away from these strict requirements as to who you can play with and how many you can play with,” Maria Koch Aabel, chief consultant at the authority told Danish state broadcaster DR.

“You can play with a few more friends at one time, and you can also have sleepovers.”

“Children should do what they usually do with their friends: Play as much as they want.”

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She said that while it was better for children to play outside if possible, it was OK to play inside on computers, so long as each child uses a separate keyboard and mouse.

The new guidelines came as Denmark has halved the recommended social distance from two metres to one metre, and after the return of children to schools and daycare has taken place without a big rise in the rate of infections.

What was important, she said, was that children continued to keep one metre's distance from one another, and that they wash their hands frequently.

Member comments

dawncleightonmd - 17 May 2020 at 20:28 CEST

What exactly is the point of having social distancing in schools if children have been “given the green light to play with as many children as they like for as long as they like”? Why bother with the social distancing rules for school? It seems like a very mixed message.

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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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