SHARE
COPY LINK

METTE FREDERIKSEN

Danish prime minister rejects criticism over first lockdown announcement

Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen has denied she gave the impression that the decision to enter lockdown in March 2020 was based purely on health authorities' advice.

Danish prime minister rejects criticism over first lockdown announcement
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. Photo: Mads Claus Rasmussen/Ritzau Scanpix

The government maintained from the outset that the decision was taken by politicians, the PM argued in parliament on Wednesday.

“I do not agree that the government may have left the impression that the government’s decision was based one-to-one on recommendations from health authorities or other authorities,” she said.

An expert group last week concluded that the government, rather than health authorities, was the main driver in the decision to implement the lockdown in Denmark at the outset of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Critics have accused Frederiksen of being dishonest with the public by characterising the March 11th, 2020 announcement that Denmark was to go into lockdown as being based on the advice of medical authorities.

READ ALSO: First Danish Covid-19 lockdown decision 'was taken by government'

At the March 11th briefing, Frederiksen said it was “the recommendation of health authorities that we close down all unnecessary activity in (societal) areas for a period of time. We are applying a principle of caution.”

But that quote does not conform with the overall context given during the briefing, at which the lockdown was announced and explained, she said on Wednesday.

“That was in no way what was meant by the sentence in question, that was not the message at that press briefing or the many following press briefings,” she said.

“It is harsh to take individual lines out of all the communication coming from the government in a crisis like this,” she added.

The prime minister made the comments in response to a question submitted by the Danish People’s Party, which has called for her to respond over the report.

Denmark’s response to the original wave of Covid-19 was generally praised for keeping the strain on hospitals within overall capacity and for limiting the number of deaths.

The country has registered 2,170 death due to the coronavirus since the outset of the pandemic. More than half of these have occurred since late November 2020, when the country was hit by a severe second wave of infections.

Member comments

Log in here to leave a comment.
Become a Member to leave a comment.

METTE FREDERIKSEN

Danish PM Frederiksen ‘still not feeling great’ after assault in Copenhagen

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is not yet fully recovered four days after being assaulted in a Copenhagen square, she said in an interview on Tuesday.

Danish PM Frederiksen 'still not feeling great' after assault in Copenhagen

The attack Friday was not thought to be politically motivated and a 39-year-old Polish man was apprehended on suspicion of the assault that left the premier with a minor whiplash injury.

“I’m not doing great, and I’m not really myself yet,” she told broadcaster DR in her first interview since the attack.

“He was a man who recognised the prime minister of the country and he hit me,” the 46-year-old leader said of the assailant.

“As a human being, it felt like an attack on me. I got hit. But I have no doubt that it was the prime minister who got hit. In that sense it was an attack on us all,” she said.

“No form of violence has any place in our society.”

Frederiksen said the tone had changed in politics recently.

“We have all seen, across all parties, that the boundaries have moved spectacularly. Especially after the war in the Middle East,” she said, noting that “people have rejoiced over violence”.

Frederiksen said her personal security detail would be boosted going forward.

“Something happened. Every time something happens, there’s a little more protection,” she said.

Frederiksen became the youngest ever Danish prime minister when she took office in 2019. She won re-election in legislative elections in 2022.

SHOW COMMENTS