Denmark extended until at least February 7 its significant restrictions in place against Covid-19, which include the closure of schools and shops, in the face of the "
extremely worrying
" increase in cases of the contagious English variant.
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At a press conference, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke called on the Danes to as much as possible "
stay at home and cancel all social interactions
" outside of their health appointments, even though the population does not. is not confined.
Current restrictions, which also include the closure of non-takeout bars and restaurants, were in place until January 17.
But Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had warned since Sunday that an extension was likely.
The Scandinavian country, facing a second wave stronger than that of the spring, is one of the countries outside the British Isles to have detected the most cases of the English variant, even if this is also explained by its significant sequencing capacities.
On Wednesday, the number of detected cases of the variant reached 208, an increase of 75% in a few days, and now represents 3.6% of positive cases in Denmark.
According to forecasts from the country's main health institute, SSI, the English variant is expected to become the dominant strain of the virus in Denmark by mid-February.
PCR tests to detect the English variant "
B.1.1.7
", as well as other variants, will be launched this week in the country, SSI announced on Wednesday.
The Scandinavian country is also the first country in the European Union to have crossed the 2% of the vaccinated population, according to official data compiled by AFP, even if the pace has slowed significantly for four days due to reduced supplies .
According to the latest tally on Wednesday, some 118,000 people had received a dose of the vaccine, or 2.02% of the population, according to SSI.
After hitting a record 19,891 injections on January 6, the number of vaccinations fell to an all-time low on Tuesday, with 453 injections.