The country’s minister for health, Magnus Heunicke, said that there is no evidence of a major outbreak but has advised the public to remember “good habits” to keep infection numbers low.
READ ALSO: These are Denmark's current coronavirus guidelines for the public
The week commencing July 13th saw 240 new cases of Covid-19 registered in Denmark, compared to 169 and 123 in the two preceding weeks.
Heunicke encouraged the public to maintain hygiene precautions in a message posted on Facebook, but also said the virus remained “under control” in the country.
“Maybe it has gone so well that we’ve not started to slack a little on the good habits that well keep the virus down. That must not happen. We must in no way put everything at risk now,” he the minister wrote.
He encouraged the public to maintain distance, disinfect hands, cough and sneeze into the elbow bend, avoid hugging and shaking hands and to remember general good hygiene.
But the “good habits” referred to by Heunicke still do not include mandatory wearing of masks in places such as shops, unlike in many other European countries.
After almost a week in Germany and Italy, where mask wearing indoors is the norm, it beggars belief that Denmark is so behind on implementing this simple and effective strategy. https://t.co/2h86UsC7qS
— Peter Stanners (@peterstanners) July 23, 2020
READ ALSO: Could face masks become compulsory in Denmark?
Despite the concerning nature of the weekly data, Heunicke said it was not evidence of a “major outbreak”.
“That is good news, because we are extremely alert about not letting that kind of thing happen,” he wrote.
“The Danish Patient Safety Authority is responsible for tracing active infections and they report that there are no persistent, out-of-control infection chains. Further, the total number of newly-hospitalised is still stable at a low level,” he added.
Tuesday and Wednesday this week saw 48 and 40 new coronavirus cases registered according to data from national infectious disease centre SSI.
“There has been a trend for over one week of the numbers being a little higher than at the start of July,” Aarhus University global health expert and consultant in infectious disease Christian Wejse told Ritzau on Wednesday.
The trend could not easily be explained by more comprehensive testing, Wejse said.
Please whitelist us to continue reading.
Isn’t the recent increase in “Covid 19” within the timeline of the recent huge unnecessary protest gatherings around the country in a time of a pandemic ⁉️ These protests,especially in “Copenhagen” could have easily been carried out “After “ we were able to control/ vaccinate the infectious “Covid 19” ?♂️? I believe on behalf of the families of those who recklessly endangered the lives of their own loved ones and their families ⁉️ All of the increased numbers of infection suspiciously appearingonly a week or so after the huge uncontrollable gatherings of “who” ??
I entered Denmark just as it shut down and left recently. I saw the protest (that weren’t really in the same meaning as the BLM movement here in America but that’s a different topic).
Looking at protest as the blame for covid spread is out of touch with what’s already been researched and looked at a number of times in matters of protest and contact tracing. It’s been found that bars, parties and work places help to spread covid more efficiently than outdoor protest, especially where mask are used.
As of July 1st, the amount of Danes mingling in close quarters without the benefit of a mask (that helps you to A: not touch your face and B: creates a moist environment for droplets to attach to and fall quicker than not being attached moisture) was not only mind boggling but a sure signs that Denmark would eventually see a weekly rise in cases.
I saw some really good protocols go up quickly and made Denmark a really safe place to be. If breaks my heart that people don’t realize it can still happen to them even in a tiny, low count country. I believe you just have to be lucky or the unlucky one to have a conversation for the right length of time, with the right person, flaunting the proper precautions and ingest the right amount of virus needed to make you sick. That is less likely to happen outdoor than in an indoor gathering.