Denmark inches closer to a reopening

A massive increase in corona testing is seen as the key

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Denmark is hinting it could begin easing the current lockdown restrictions and it plans on using lots and lots of COVID testing to help.

In a press conference today Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said the country has secured 10-million new and less invasive COVID rapid tests. Heunicke says while different reopening scenarios are being hashed out anyone returning to work will likely have to undergo twice a week corona testing. The testing mandate would also apply to students in secondary institutions and up. He says frequent testing will facilitate a reopening while maintaining a vigilance against spreading corona variants.

However a lot of heavy lifting will be required to get Denmark to a point where it can carry off the sheer number of corona tests that will be required week in and week out. It would also require hundreds of rapid test sites, a big increase from the current 55. Then each site would have to be staffed and those staff trained not to mention creating the laboratory capacity to quickly and regularly deliver timely test results.

Officials while tabling the plan did not give a firm date when everything would be in place. Denmark has been under a strict coronavirus lockdown since Christmas week.

Yesterday 126,195 corona tests were done across the country.

Denmark is reporting 414 COVID infections and eight more coronavirus deaths in the last day.

COVID hospitalizations (280) continue to drop (-18) ICU numbers (57) are also down (-6) while those on a ventilator (39) declined as well (-3).

While infection numbers and hospitalizations drop the good news is being offset with some concerning developments. Health Minister Magnus Heunicke says a ninth and tenth case of the more contagious South African corona variant have now been confirmed in Denmark. Unlike the other eight he says neither have any links to travel raising the specter of community transmission. Heunicke says both of the new infection cases are in isolation while contact tracing is also underway.

To date on the vaccination front 263,743 1st doses (4.53% of population) and 172,796 2nd vaccines doses (2.96% of population) have been administered.

Vaccine utilization is at 99.5%.

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Sweden has added 4,233 infections and suffered another 82 corona deaths since yesterday’s update.

Infection numbers in Sverige continue to trend back upward.

The Swedish government is getting ready to close stores, hairdressers, and other businesses as infections creep up. Essential stores like pharmacies and grocery stores would stay open.

To date there have been 373,281 1st dose vaccinations (4.5% of population) and 152,569 2nd dose (1.9% of population) COVID vaccinations.

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Finland saw a serious infections surge since yesterday’s update with 548 new cases while also seeing another three virus deaths.

COVID hospitalizations (102) are up (+7) while those in an ICU (30) has also increased (+3).

To date Finland has administered 229,391 1st vaccine doses while 68,558 people have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.

A new corona variant has been found in Southern Finland. Vita Laboratories confirmed the variant infection in a single patient last week. It has been designated the Fin-796H variant. While the laboratory said it appears to have similar mutations as seen in the U.K. and South African variants it also has its own unique make up. At this point they don’t know much about what if any threat it might pose. Finnish authorities will release more information tomorrow.

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Norway has added 339 infections and suffered 14 corona deaths since yesterday’s update.

COVID hospitalizations (69) are down (-11) while those on a ventilator (17) remains unchanged.

To date there have been 239,562 1st doses (4.46% of pop) and 73,737 2nd corona vaccine doses (1.37% of pop) administered.

Europe

The European Union is bulking up its portfolio of vaccines. It has reached a deal with Pfizer for another 300 million doses of its vaccine to be delivered in the second quarter of this year. That makes a total of 600 million doses to date.

The E.U. Has also reached a deal with Moderna for another 150 million vaccine doses. These would be delivered in the third and fourth quarter of this year.

Across the border from Denmark in Flensburg, Germany corona infections are rising sharply. Health officials, who levied new restrictions this week, say the infections surge is being driven by the U.K. variant.

United Kingdom

In the U.K. yesterday it logged 10,625 new infections and 799 corona deaths. The rate of positive tests, fatalities, and hospitalizations continue to decline.

The gap between 1st and 2nd COVID vaccine shots in the U.K. now exceeds 15-million as 2nd doses administrations continue to crawl along.