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Danish government signals coronavirus update as cases continue to spike

The Danish government could announce new Covid-19 restrictions later on Wednesday.

Published: 16 December 2020 15:44 CET

Danish government signals coronavirus update as cases continue to spike

A Danish government Covid-19 briefing earlier in December. Photo: Philip Davali/Ritzau Scanpix

The prime minister’s office has confirmed a briefing on Wednesday evening at which it said an update on the current Covid-19 situation in the country will be provided.

No official confirmation has been given that new restrictions will be announced at the briefing on Wednesday evening, but several Danish media including DR, TV2 and Ekstra Bladet have reported an email sent by the Ministry of Health to party representatives, stating that new measures are “on the way”.

The email did not give a timescale or other details regarding the new measures.

The government briefing will follow another day in which the record for new cases of the coronavirus was broken. 3,692 positive tests for Covid-19 were registered by the State Serum Institute on Wednesday

The number of hospitalisations also increased significantly on Wednesday by 54, taking the total number to 493. During the spring wave of the virus, the number of Covid-19 inpatients peaked at 535 on April 1st.

14 deaths with Covid-19 were registered on Wednesday, the highest daily figure since May.

The government has rolled out a partial lockdown across the country since last week. The partial lockdown restrictions will apply in all of Denmark’s 98 municipalities from 4pm on Wednesday.

The Local will report new Danish Covid-19 restrictions as they are announced.

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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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