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Today in Denmark: A round-up of the latest news on Thursday

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Today in Denmark: A round-up of the latest news on Thursday
Nanna Skov Høpfner celebrates after having her sentence reduced from two years to 60 days. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

Find out what's going on in Denmark today with The Local's short roundup of the news in less than five minutes.

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Denmark's parties agree to phase out face masks from Monday

Denmark's government has struck a deal with all but one of the parliament's parties to phase out the use of face masks, with the requirement to wear a face mask from Monday removed for all areas apart from when standing in public transport. The requirement to wear a face mask will be removed completely on September 1st. 

The coronavirus pass or coronapas will also begin to be phased out on Monday, when those visiting public libraries and participating in activities run by clubs and voluntary organisations will no longer need to show a pass. 

From August 1st, the coronapas will no longer be needed in theaters, concert venues, indoor sports activities, and a wide range of other venues, and from September 1st, you will no longer need to show one in restaurants, the hairdresser or the gym, and on October 1st the pass will be phased out completely. 

"It is a marked opening of Danish society," Magnus Heunicke, Denmark's health minister said when the agreement was announced just before 4am on Thursday morning. 

The agreement also extends how long a negative PCR test provides a valid coronavirus pass or coronapas to 96 hours. 

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Two Viking relatives reunited in Denmark after 1,000 years

Separated for 1,000 years, two Viking warriors from the same family were reunited on Wednesday at Denmark's National
Museum, as DNA analysis helps shed light on the Vikings' movements across Europe.

One of the Vikings died in England in his 20s in the 11th century, from injuries to the head. He was buried in a mass grave in Oxford.

The other died in Denmark in his 50s, his skeleton bearing traces of blows that suggest he took part in battles.

DNA mapping of skeletons from the Viking era -- from the eighth to the 12th century -- enabled archaeologists to determine by chance that the two were related. 

Woman from Men In Black demo has sentence cut from two years to 60 days

Nanna Skov Høpfner, who was sentenced to two years in prison for a speech when she called for anti-lockdown protestors to "smash the city in a non-violent way", has had her sentence cut to 60 days by Denmark's Eastern High Court. 

Nanna Skov Høpfner was the first to be convicted in the district court under the special corona clause 81d, which applies double punishments for any offence which "has a background in or connection with the covid-19 epidemic in Denmark". 

The High Court said that the clause should not apply to offences committed at a demo. 

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Number of coronavirus patients in Denmark falls by two

The number of patients being treated in Danish hospitals for coronavirus has fallen by 2 to 122, while 904 new coronavirus infections were registered in the 24 hours leading up to 2pm on Wednesday, Denmark's infectious diseases agency Statens Serum Institut (SSI) has reported. 

According to the institute, a technical error meant that the number of new infections was based on more tests than usual, making the number of new infections is an overestimate. 

According to Magnus Heunicke, Denmark's health minister, the current reproduction number in Denmark is 0.8, indicating a falling level of infection with each ten infected people only going on to infect eight others. 

 

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