COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark can ease restrictions further since the coronavirus epidemic is not worsening in the Nordic country, Denmark’s health minister said on Tuesday.
“The contact number is calculated at 1.0. That means that the epidemic in Denmark is not growing. Thus, we have the basis for further controlled reopening,” Magnus Heunicke said on Twitter.
The contact number, also known as the R-value, indicates how many people one infected person will pass the virus on to.
Heunicke also said the more contagious B.1.1.7. variant, first identified in Britain, was found in around 80% of all positive cases.
Denmark has eased some of its tough lockdown measures introduced in December, as schools in some parts of the country have reopened, as well as shops, and outdoor leisure activities have resumed.
Head of the State Serum Institute, Henrik Ullum, said late on Monday the partial reopening so far had not led the epidemic towards the worst-case scenario, where up to almost 900 hospitalisation could happen in April.
(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard; Editing by Jon Boyle and Emelia Sithole-Matarise)
