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COVID-19 STATS

Covid infections in Denmark at lowest since January

The number of Covid cases in Denmark is the lowest since January this year, according to data from Danish public health institute Statens Serum Institut (SSI).

A health worker takes a nasal sample from a woman for a Covid test
With only PCR and home tests available in Denmark after Sunday, a large number of infections will go unrecorded. (Photo by Evert Elzinga / ANP / AFP) 

In the last 24 hours, 10,827 people have been diagnosed with coronavirus, SSI figures show.

Henrik Nielsen, professor and chief physician at the Department of Infectious Diseases at Aalborg University Hospital, believes that today’s infection rate fits in with expectations of the infection rate over the past few weeks, he told Danish news agency Ritzau.

“That is that the epidemic is declining, and that during March we will see a further decrease in the spread of infection. And also a drop in the number of hospital admissions with Covid-19,” he said.

Nielsen believes that in the spring and around Easter there could be as few as 1,000 confirmed cases of coronavirus daily.

Sunday is the last day that rapid test centres will be open in Denmark. After this, people will only be able to have PCR tests done or do home tests themselves. 

According to Nielsen, this means that there may be a large number of infections that go unrecorded.

“So even though the numbers are low, there are probably more than those we catch,” he said.

Of 40,972 PCR samples, 10,827 or 26.4 percent, tested positive for Covid-19.

526 of the people who have tested positive in the last 24 hours were reinfections – people who had previously been confirmed to have had Covid-19.

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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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