Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said that as of Feb.
1 Danes will enjoy free access to restaurants, cafes, museums and nightclubs,
while mask use will cease to be mandatory.
“We say goodbye to the restrictions and welcome the life we
knew before” the pandemic, Frederiksen said. “As of Feb. 1, Denmark will be
open.”
Denmark currently requires face masks on public
transportation, in shops, for standing clients in restaurant indoor areas, and
for people entering hospitals, health care facilities and retirement homes. As
of Feb. 1, the government will only recommend mask use in hospitals, health
care facilities and homes for the elderly.
Frederiksen said that while the omicron variant is surging
in Denmark, it is not placing a heavy burden on the health system and the
country has a high vaccination rate.
“It may seem strange that we want to remove restrictions
given the high infection rates,” she said. “But fewer people become seriously
ill.”
Denmark has in recent weeks seen more than 46,000 daily
cases on average, but only 40 people are currently in hospital intensive care
units — down from 80 a few weeks ago — Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said.
Heunicke urged Danes to get tested regularly. ”We continue
with a strong epidemic surveillance. Then we ... can react quickly if
necessary.”
Frederiksen warned that Denmark could see a rise in
infections in the coming weeks, adding that a fourth vaccination shot might
prove necessary.
The restrictions being scrapped next week were originally
introduced in July but were removed about ten weeks later after a successful
vaccination drive. They were reintroduced when infections soared.
In 2020, Denmark became one of the first European countries
to close schools because of the pandemic, and sent home all public employees without
critical functions.
Earlier Thursday, Sweden extended several coronavirus
restrictions for two weeks.
Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren said the country,
which had previously stood out among European nations for its comparatively
hands-off pandemic response, has “an extremely record high spread of
infection.”
Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of Sweden’s Public Health Agency,
said infections are expected to decline in a couple of weeks. She said Sweden
had 270,000 new infections in the past week and that “our assessment is that,
during this period, at least half a million can fall ill per week.”
Sweden has ordered cafes, bars and restaurants to close at
11 p.m., and urged people to work from home when possible.
In another Scandinavian country, Finland, Prime Minister
Sanna Marin tweeted that “the government will assess the necessity of (the)
restrictions.” She added that it “should consider opening low-risk cultural and
sports events with a COVID pass and extending the opening hours of restaurants
on a quicker schedule than was previously estimated.” -AP
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