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What is the current status of coronavirus in Denmark?

Hospitalisations and ventilator treatment for Covid-19 are currently at a low level in Denmark, but new infections are still being detected.

Published: 20 July 2020 19:26 CEST

What is the current status of coronavirus in Denmark?

Covid-19 testing in Denmark earlier this year. Photo: Niels Christian Vilmann/Ritzau Scanpix

A total of 18 people are currently admitted to hospital in Denmark with coronavirus, according to Monday’s updated figures from national infectious disease centre SSI. That constitutes a small reduction since Friday, when 20 were admitted.

Of the 18, 3 are currently under ICU care with two of those receiving ventilator treatment.

No new Covid-19 deaths occurred since the previous update, meaning Denmark’s total number of fatalities from the virus stands at 611.

89 new cases of coronavirus were detected in the three days since the last count was published.

That figure is relatively low but should be taken seriously, one commentator said.

“On one hand, the number of people admitted to hospitals is getting smaller and smaller… that’s very positive,” said Torben Mogensen, leader of patient charity the Danish Lung Society (Lungeforeningen).

“But the number of new positive tests since Friday is over 80, and that counts the other way. I really think that’s a lot and it’s worrying,” Mogensen said.

The 89 new cases is a relatively high figure compared with numbers from preceding weeks.

Last Monday saw a total of 91 new cases detected during the weekend, but the two weeks prior to that saw 46 and 71 new cases.

“It’s around 30 per day, and when you see how outbreaks in other countries have come from far fewer , it’s a worrying number,” he said.

The data published by SSI does not show whether cases are localised or spread across the country.

27,053 coronavirus tests were carried out in Denmark between Friday and Monday.

READ ALSO: Could face masks become compulsory in Denmark?

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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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