Figures show Denmark’s low excess mortality during pandemic

Denmark is one of the countries that has done best when it comes to excess mortality during the coronavirus pandemic, according to Statens Serum Institut (SSI).

Published: 23 April 2022 15:23 CEST

A patient is cared for by nurses in the ward for Covid-19 patients in the intensive care unit at Bispebjerg Hospital on 5th December 2020. Photo: Ólafur Steinar Gestsson/Ritzau Scanpix

The figures come from the international statistics bank Our World in Data. A selection of 18 countries shows that only Australia and New Zealand have performed better in the excess mortality statistics from 1st March 2020 to 27th March 2022.

The figure for excess mortality shows the number of deaths compared to the expected number of deaths based on previous years.

In Denmark, the figure for excess mortality is 1,454, while New Zealand and Australia are both minus, which means the actual number of deaths in that period were fewer than projected.

In all three countries, at least 80 percent have received a vaccine against the coronavirus, writes Ritzau.

“It is amazingly gratifying that we have come through a two-year pandemic with such limited excess mortality, while now having a fully reopened society.”

“When we compare with other countries and look at data, we can see that the high vaccination coverage has been crucial to this success,” says director of SSI Henrik Ullum.

In March, the Danish Health Authority changed its recommendations on when people with suspected Covid-19 should be tested for the coronavirus, with testing now only recommended if there is a “special medical reason” for doing so.

Official data shows that 1,350 new cases of Covid-19 were registered yesterday. The positive cases were found among 11,870 PRC tests.

Testing levels are now a fraction of those seen earlier in the pandemic, while daily case numbers peaked in February when up to 55,000 new cases were registered on a number of days.

Seven hundred people with Covid-19 are currently in hospitals in Denmark. This total is on a downward trend, having reached over 1,500 in early March.

A large proportion of these patients are not receiving treatment for coronavirus and are in hospital for other reasons.

In total, 6,072 people have died in Denmark after testing positive for Covid-19.

Denmark says Covid-19 testing now only needed for ‘special medical reasons’