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COVID-19 STATS

Covid-19: Proportion of Danish patients who need ICU care drops to record low

Fewer Covid-19 hospital patients than at any time before during the pandemic need intensive care treatment after catching the virus, according to a Danish report.

a hospital bed in denmark
Covid-19 hospital admissions in Denmark are resulting in fewer transfers to intensive care than at any previous stage of the pandemic. File photo: Ólafur Steinar Rye Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix

Data from regional health authorities’ Clinical Quality Development Programme (Kliniske Kvalitetsudviklingsprogram) show that in February, the proportion of infections that resulted in ICU treatment after hospital admission was lower than at any previous time, news wire Ritzau reports.

Although the number of hospitalisations of patients with Covid-19 last month reached a total of over 10,000, only one percent of hospitalised patients were in a serious enough condition to require transfer to intensive care.

The one percent does therefore also not include the many more thousands of people who tested positive for Covid-19 in Denmark in January but did not need hospital treatment.

In comparison, both November and December saw around six percent of hospitalised patients with Covid-19 receive ICU treatment.

“The Omicron variant has taken over and that makes people less sick. At the same time, the third vaccine dose has contributed,” professor Anders Perner of Copenhagen’s Rigshospitalet said.

The national infectious disease agency State Serum Institute (SSI) meanwhile said on Friday that around 59 percent of adults in Denmark aged between 17 and 72 years had contracted Covid-19 at some point since the beginning of November. Those numbers come from a study of blood donated to blood banks.

READ ALSO: Covid-19: Denmark scales down PCR test capacity as cases decline

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COVID-19 STATS

Covid-19: Danish authorities ’not concerned’ after new subvariant detected

A new subvariant of Covid-19 has been detected in Denmark. Health authorities say they are monitoring the situation.

Covid-19: Danish authorities ’not concerned’ after new subvariant detected

The new variant was first detected in India around three months ago and has now been detected in Denmark for the first time with two confirmed cases, news wire Ritzau reports.

Health Minister Magnus Heunicke confirmed the variant had been found in Denmark in a Twitter post on Saturday.

The variant, BJ.1, is a subvariant of the existing Omicron form of the coronavirus and was first registered in India on July 2nd. It has since been detected in four other countries.

“Two cases of the new Covid-19 subvariant BJ.1 have been found in Denmark,” Heunicke wrote.

“It is completely expected that BJ.1 would appear in Denmark and the State Serum Institute [national infectious disease control agency, ed.] is not currently concerned but is following the situation closely,” he said.

It is currently unclear whether BJ.1, also termed BA.2.10.1, can be expected to cause more serious symptoms than the current dominant form of Omicron.

“BJ.1 has more mutations to the spike protein than subvariants of the dominant BA.5, but the importance of these mutations is not known for certain,” Heunicke wrote.

The most recent infection trends report, issued last week by the State Serum Institute, stated that infection numbers in people aged 60 and over had increased during the preceding week. Infection numbers have been otherwise stable in all age groups in recent weeks.

Denmark currently only recommends a PCR test for Covid-19 for people at risk of serious illness who suspect they have the virus.

Last week’s infection trends report noted that BJ.1 was yet to be detected in Denmark.

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