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PUBLIC TRANSPORT

Denmark’s regional trains to return to full passenger capacity

Regional trains in Denmark will be allowed to operate at full capacity for passenger numbers from Friday, May 21st. Seat reservations will still be required to take trains.

Published: 19 May 2021 17:08 CEST
Denmark’s regional trains to return to full passenger capacity
Denmark's trains have been emptier than normal for some time due to coronavirus restrictions. Photo: Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix

As part of the latest update to Denmark’s planned easing of coronavirus restrictions, trains and buses will be permitted to allow more passengers on board. Both have been required to restrict capacity during the pandemic.

Although regional trains can return to full passenger numbers, the Intercity and ‘Lyn’ trains which connect major cities will remain limited, albeit at 70 percent of capacity rather than the current 50 percent.

The decision has been made in part due to the fact more people will begin to use the services as society in general returns to a more normal level of activity.

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“The reopening of society also means a greater need to travel with public transport to and from work or school. That’s why we are now conducting a targeted easing of capacity limits, with focus on rail traffic,” transport minister Benny Engelbrecht said in a statement.

“Reopening must take place safely. That’s why it’s still important that we keep a distance when possible and remember hand disinfectant and face masks,” Engelbrecht also said.

Rail operator DSB’s head of information Tony Bispeskov called for passengers to cancel seat reservations – which will remain a requirement on regional and long distance DSB trains – if they do not need them.

The company has noted that unused reservations have caused trains to run with fewer passengers than reserved seats, resulting in a lack of bookable seats.

“We have seen up to one in four seats empty even though seats were reserved. That means people at the station have been unable to purchase the reservation needed to take the train,” Bispeskov said.

“We should remember that that we still have a pandemic and we don’t have standing passengers. Even though regional trains will increase to 100 percent, you can’t just squeeze in,” he added.

The political agreement for Friday’s easing of restrictions states that “restrictions on public transport will be adapted on an ongoing basis to follow the overall reopening”.

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HEALTH

Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

As Italy’s new school year began, masks and hand sanitiser were distributed in schools and staff were asked to prevent gatherings to help stem an increase in Covid infections.

Published: 11 September 2023 12:48 CEST
Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

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Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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