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Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

Find out what's going on in Denmark today with The Local's short roundup of the news in less than five minutes.

Published: 21 July 2021 10:51 CEST

Today in Denmark: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

A red balloon showing the logo of the Danish nurses' union, DSR. Photo: Ida Guldbæk Arentsen/Ritzau Scanpix

Pregnant and breastfeeding women to receive invitation for Covid-19 vaccination

Women who are pregnant or breastfeeding can be offered vaccination against Covid-19 from today, having not had this opportunity in Denmark until now.

The various Covid-19 vaccines were previously not approved by the Danish Health Authority for women in the groups due to a lack of sufficient documentation supporting their recommendation during pregnancy. The authority announced yesterday that it would publish new guidelines.

READ ALSO: Denmark to change Covid-19 vaccination guidelines for pregnant and breastfeeding women

A number of other European countries, including Sweden and the United Kingdom, already vaccinate pregnant women and the Danish Society for Obstetrics and Gynaecology has previously stated that the advantages of vaccination against Covid-19 clearly outweigh the disadvantages.

Emergency service warns of heightened fire risk

Dry and windy weather means that the risk of accidentally starting a wildfire is currently higher than usual.

As such, a senior officer with the Danish fire services (Danske Beredskaber) has urged people to exercise caution when, for example, lighting barbecues or torching weeds.

“It’s windy and has been warm in the preceding period so there is still a relatively high fire risk,” Bjarne Nigaard told broadcaster DR.

Nurses to demonstrate on two wheels in Copenhagen

Cyclists in Copenhagen this afternoon could be caught in heavy two-wheeled traffic as nurses take to their bicycles to demonstrate for better pay.

Around 4,750 nurses are currently on strike in Denmark and that number is scheduled to increase in August.

The striking nurses are likely to be easy to recognise with their red t-shirts and signs.

READ ALSO:

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Today in Denmark: A roundup of the news on Friday

Aarhus budget sets aside large amount for opioid addiction treatment

The new Aarhus city budget will provide an amount “in the millions” for treatment of people battling opioid addiction, Aarhus Municipality said in a statement, citing a growing number of addiction problems among young people in the city.

“The money will first and foremost go to treatment of addiction. We are unfortunately seeing an increasing number of young people sliding into addiction. They need help to come out of it,” city mayor Jacob Bundsgaard said in the statement.

Some 29 of the city’s 31 elected councillors voted for the budget, which sets aside a total of 30 million kroner for social spending and 50 million for climate initiatives. Some 5 million kroner of the social budget will meanwhile be spent helping homeless people back into housing.

Vocabulary: at ryge ud i noget – to get into a (bad) situation

Police issued 70,000 incorrect speeding fines

As many as 70,000 speeding fines may have been incorrectly issued by police over the last eight years, the National Police (Rigspolitiet) said in a statement yesterday.

The erroneous fines were given to the owners of cars which were recorded exceeding the speed limit by 30 percent at automatic speed checks. That is instead of sending the fine to the driver – who was not necessarily the owner of the car in the cases in question.

Car owners who may have been fined incorrectly do not need to do anything yet, police said.

“We need to get the legal clarification sorted, and then we will find the best way to resolve cases,” the head of unit at the Police Administrative Centre, Jeppe James, said in the statement.

Vocabulary: fartbøde – speeding fine

MP leaves Alternative party after dispute with colleagues

Theresa Scavenius, the MP who was ousted from the Alternative party’s parliamentary group following an internal dispute over working relations, has now left the party altogether and will continue in parliament as an independent.

The decision means Alternative’s total number of seats drops from six to five.

“I have today left Alternative, as I can’t see any other option based on all this. I’m determined to continue my parliamentary opposition work, whereby I can control and criticise the government’s politics,” Scavenius wrote on Facebook.

One of the disagreements between Scavenius and her colleagues related to their position on climate, she wrote.

“I wanted to confront the other politicians with [their] bluff and political theatre, while the others wanted to be good friends, have ‘hygge’ and drink coffee with Mette [Frederiksen, prime minister, ed.],” she said on the evening TV show Go’ aften live earlier this week.

Vocabulary: at melde sig ud – to withdraw an entry a membership

Immigration agency in reminder over extended Brexit deadline

The Danish Agency for International Recruitment and Integration (SIRI), which is responsible for processing residence permit cases, has reminded British citizens covered by the Withdrawal Agreement that they must apply to extend their residency rights by the end of the year, if they did not do so before the original deadline in 2021.

“British citizens and their family members who do not already hold a residence document in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement must submit an application – SIRI is not going to send out individual information letters,” the agency said in a statement on its website.

People who have already extended their residence in Denmark under the Withdrawal Agreement and received a residence card should not apply again. In most cases this will have happened in 2021, but a significant number missed the original process after they did not receive intended information letters from SIRI.

READ ALSO: ‘We will not send letters’: Danish immigration agency in reminder over extended Brexit deadline

Vocabulary: opholdstilladelse – residency permit

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