Denmark likely to extend nationwide lockdown by two weeks

Wednesday, December 30, 2020

Denmark Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen recently announced that the country has decided to extend its current lockdown by two weeks. The restrictions currently in place were due to end on January 3, 2021 and will now be extended to January 17, 2021. The decision as the number of COVID-19 cases in hospitals country hit a record 900, after doubling in two weeks. 

All shops and shopping centres apart from pharmacies and supermarkets have been asked to shut down. Everyone apart from essential workers have been asked to return to work from home. Pupils in the first four classes of primary school, who were sent home from school early on December 21st, have also now returned to distance learning for the first time since the spring. 

No new restrictions have been established for New Year’s Eve, but Prime Minister Frederiksen called on Danish residents to limit their celebrations. Frederiksen said in her statement that the situation with infections and hospitalisations is more serious as compared to the spring. She mentioned that with the reproduction number now at 1.2, Denmark could get on the so-called ‘red curve’, when the health service becomes overwhelmed. 

She shared that the ‘red curve’ can becomes the reality in the future, if the infection is not immediately smashed. She also called on people to consider cancelling events they have organised as she stated that it makes no sense for the New Year celebrations to mean that even more infection is spread and shared that everything should not be messed up further for just one night.

Søren Brostrøm, Director of the Danish Health Authority also called on people to cancel any New Year’s Eve events planned with anyone they did not see normally, and consider going home early and early to bed as well. Denmark’s National Police Chief, Thorkild Fogde, added that the police would be out in large numbers on New Year’s Eve to enforce the ban on gatherings of more than ten people and fines will be issued if people fail to follow the police’s advice.

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