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COVID-19 RULES

Denmark nears 4,000 new cases of Covid-19 in one day

A total of 3,899 people in Denmark tested positive for Covid-19 up to the latest daily update on Tuesday, the highest figure since December 18th, 2020.

Published: 16 November 2021 17:17 CET
A PCR test for Covid-19 being conducted in Aarhus. 3,899 positive cases were registered on November 16th.
A PCR test for Covid-19 being conducted in Aarhus. 3,899 positive cases were registered on November 16th. Photo: Jens Thaysen/Jysk Fynske Medier/Ritzau Scanpix

Infections therefore reached their highest number in a day for almost 11 months, according to the official data from the national infectious disease agency, State Serum Institute.

The highest ever daily total, set on December 18th last year, was 4,508 infections.

Shortly after that, Denmark entered a partial lockdown which was not lifted until late winter. However, that was at a time before a significant proportion of the population was vaccinated against Covid-19.

75.5 percent of the Danish population is currently vaccinated against the virus while 77 percent have had at least one dose of a vaccine, according to the latest official data.

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“It looks as if the epidemic is rolling onwards. We are not on the other side of the problems,” University of Copenhagen professor of virology Allan Randrup said.

Friday last week saw the reintroduction of rules requiring a valid Covid-19 health pass or coronapas in certain situations, but it remains too early to assess the impact of that decision, Randrup said.

“We should expect it to take 10 to 14 days from the when measures are introduced before they have an effect on the numbers,” he said.

Monday’s figure of 3,899 positive tests comes from a total of 150,587 PCR tests, giving a positivity rate of 2.59 percent.

371 people in Denmark are currently admitted to hospital with Covid-19.

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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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