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COVID-19

New Danish Covid-19 cases back under 100: could figure be sign of downward trend?

85 new cases of coronavirus were registered in Denmark on Wednesday, the lowest daily total for nine days.

Published: 19 August 2020 18:16 CEST
New Danish Covid-19 cases back under 100: could figure be sign of downward trend?
A man wearing a face mask in Horsens earlier this week. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Wednesday’s total represents the first time since August 10th that under 100 new cases have been registered in Denmark and the lowest figure overall since the same day.

On Tuesday, 115 new infections were registered, following 123 on Monday. The three preceding days saw 165 (Friday), 104 (Saturday) and 134 (Sunday) new cases.

Of the 85 cases registered Wednesday, 15 were in Copenhagen while 13 were in Aarhus. The second city has been the focus of authorities’ attention after a recent spike in cases.

The figures come from national agency State Serum Institute (SSI).

Christian Wejse, a specialist in infectious disease at Aarhus University, told news agency Ritzau he was now less concerned about the prospect of a second wave of the coronavirus epidemic in Denmark.

“There is a clear local and general decreasing trend over a few days, and I think it will continue,” Wejse said.

“This suggests that it has been possible to get a grip on the outbreak in Aarhus,” he added.

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In addition to the decrease in new cases, the reproduction number for Covid-19 in Denmark has now fallen to an estimated 1, having been at 1.5 earlier in August.

This means that every infected person infects an average of 1 more people, compared with 1.5 people earlier in the month.

Wejse noted that this figure could increase again, however, given it lags behind the registration of new cases.

Minister of Health Magnus Heunicke also cited the reproduction number in a tweet in which he thanked “all the staff who are working hard to keep infections in check”, noting that over 2 million tests for Covid-19 have now been conducted in Denmark.

Heunicke also wrote that a reproduction number of 1 “means the total number of new daily infections is stable”.

The number of people hospitalised with coronavirus fell on Wednesday by two and now stands at 16. One of the two is in ICU care and on ventilator treatment.

No deaths from coronavirus were registered on Wednesday.

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COVID-19

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

The number of new Covid-19 infections fell on Saturday for the second day in a row, following a three-day plateau at the start of last week. Has the omicron wave peaked?

Published: 8 January 2022 15:49 CET
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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