Denmark to allow 1,500 to attend cinemas and indoor venues
A majority in the Danish parliament has agreed to allow attendances of up to 1,500 at indoor culture and sports venues, overruling the minority government.
Conservative parties, along with the centre-left Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), agreed on Thursday to allow venues such as cinemas, theatres, museums, concert venues and sports halls to have attendances of up to 1,500 for events, provided that the crowd is separated into three blocks of 500.
The new rules will apply from Sunday January 16th.
The government had preferred to restrict crowds at venues – which have been closed since December 19th – to 500, which was itself a higher number than the 350 recommended by the advisory Epidemic Commission.
READ ALSO: Covid-19: Denmark eases culture restrictions but keeps nightlife curbs
“It is clear that when a majority in parliament wants to go a little further than what we proposed, we naturally will comply with that,” said Kasper Sand Kjær, the culture spokesperson with the Social Democrats, who form Denmark’s minority government.
The model of splitting crowds into sections of 500, with separate exits, entrances and seating areas, has previously been used during the pandemic in Denmark at football stadiums, earning it the term the “Superliga model”.
“This is a known model and our culture sector and sports clubs have managed separate sections before. I’m confident that they also will be able to this time,” Kjær said.
“With that said, this is further than the Commission recommends. There is naturally a risk in that,” he added.
Liberal party culture spokesperson Jan E. Jørgensen declared himself satisfied with the government concession.
“I’m very satisfied but what’s important is that the cultural sector is satisfied. Because what the government suggested was of no use at all,” he said.
Thursday saw Denmark’s daily total for new Covid-19 cases back over 25,000 for the first time since last week after a dip in numbers during the weekend.
25,751 new cases were registered from 211,603 PCR tests, giving a positivity rate of 12.17 percent.
755 people with Covid-19 are currently admitted to hospitals nationally, including people admitted for reasons other than Covid-19 but who have returned a positive PCR test.
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Conservative parties, along with the centre-left Social Liberals (Radikale Venstre), agreed on Thursday to allow venues such as cinemas, theatres, museums, concert venues and sports halls to have attendances of up to 1,500 for events, provided that the crowd is separated into three blocks of 500.
The new rules will apply from Sunday January 16th.
The government had preferred to restrict crowds at venues – which have been closed since December 19th – to 500, which was itself a higher number than the 350 recommended by the advisory Epidemic Commission.
READ ALSO: Covid-19: Denmark eases culture restrictions but keeps nightlife curbs
“It is clear that when a majority in parliament wants to go a little further than what we proposed, we naturally will comply with that,” said Kasper Sand Kjær, the culture spokesperson with the Social Democrats, who form Denmark’s minority government.
The model of splitting crowds into sections of 500, with separate exits, entrances and seating areas, has previously been used during the pandemic in Denmark at football stadiums, earning it the term the “Superliga model”.
“This is a known model and our culture sector and sports clubs have managed separate sections before. I’m confident that they also will be able to this time,” Kjær said.
“With that said, this is further than the Commission recommends. There is naturally a risk in that,” he added.
Liberal party culture spokesperson Jan E. Jørgensen declared himself satisfied with the government concession.
“I’m very satisfied but what’s important is that the cultural sector is satisfied. Because what the government suggested was of no use at all,” he said.
Thursday saw Denmark’s daily total for new Covid-19 cases back over 25,000 for the first time since last week after a dip in numbers during the weekend.
25,751 new cases were registered from 211,603 PCR tests, giving a positivity rate of 12.17 percent.
755 people with Covid-19 are currently admitted to hospitals nationally, including people admitted for reasons other than Covid-19 but who have returned a positive PCR test.
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