Despite record levels of new infections, Denmark plans to lift nearly all Corona restrictions next week. Italy is also planning relaxations.
Starting Tuesday (Feb. 1), Danes will no longer have to wear masks or show proof of vaccination in most places, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday in Copenhagen. Thus the government follows the instructions of the responsible commission, which had recommended to let the emergency measures to fight the pandemic expire.
What will remain, however, for the time being, is mandatory testing for people entering the country, as well as non-binding recommendations on tests and other precautionary measures, Frederiksen said.
Denmark: Clubs open despite higher corona numbers
The move will allow clubs to reopen normally and large events to go ahead unhindered from February. The relaxations are justified by the fact that the predominant omicron variant causes less severe courses on average than earlier variants. Thus, despite the tense infection situation, the number of patients in intensive care units and on ventilators is at a relatively low level.
For days, Denmark has been setting new highs for new infections. On Tuesday, 46,590 new Corona cases were counted. The Danish State Serum Institute said the number of severe courses was declining.
Italy plans end to quarantine for boosted positives
Italy plans to end quarantine for corona-infected people who have already received three vaccinations. This is because the Omicron variant is “similar to a severe form of influenza in those who have been fully vaccinated,” Health Secretary Pierpaolo Sileri told the daily newspaper Die Presse (Thursday edition). He also said the likelihood of transmission of the virus by an asymptomatic person while wearing an FFP2 mask is “extremely low.”
“If our assumptions about less severe courses due to Omicron are supported by numbers, we will slowly come to coexist with the virus,” he said. Then it will also be possible for an asymptomatic positive to do all activities. We are only at the beginning of this path, but that should be the future,” said the Five Star Movement politician, who has been advocating a rollback of quarantine rules for some time.
- hp/source: vienna.at/picture: Image by Flemming Andersen from Pixabay
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