covid-19 pandemic in denmark covid-19 pandemic in denmark the covid-19 pandemic in denmark was a part of the ongoing worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2). the virus was first confirmed to have spread to denmark on 27 february 2020. this article is about the covid-19 pandemic affecting denmark. for autonomous territories of denmark, see covid-19 pandemic in the faroe islands and covid-19 pandemic in greenland. covid-19 pandemic in denmarkdiseasecovid-19virus strainsars-cov-2locationdenmarkfirst outbreakwuhan, hubei, china (globally), wuhan, china (origin of first danish case), tyrol, austria (origin of most imported cases)index caseroskildearrival date27 february 2020(3 years, 2 months, 2 weeks and 2 days)confirmed cases2,519,057 (20 february 2022)active cases117,815 (21 december 2021)recovered519,497 (21 december 2021)deaths4,250 (20 february 2022)fatality rate0.2% (20 february 2022)government websitewww.sst.dk/da/corona/tal-og-overvaagningwww.ssi.dk/sygdomme-beredskab-og-forskning/sygdomsovervaagning/c/covid19-overvaagning denmark was among the first european countries to introduce lockdown measures, starting on 13 march. following a period of consistent increase in hospitalisations, the number of people in hospital with covid-19 has been falling since late march, with the number of cases in need of intensive care and ventilator units, also at the peak in late march, being well below available resources. starting on 15 april, a very slow and gradual reopening had been initiated. in an attempt to reduce the economic impact of the covid-19 pandemic, the frederiksen cabinet had introduced large economic packages with the support of all parties in the folketing. nevertheless, it had been estimated that there will be a decrease in gdp of 3–10% in 2020. background on 12 january 2020, the world health organization (who) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in wuhan city, hubei province, china, which was reported to the who on 31 december 2019. the case fatality ratio for covid-19 has been much lower than sars of 2003, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll. timeline casesdeaths february 2020 from late january to early february, several groups of danish citizens were evacuated from china. all were placed in quarantine and tested; none were infected. at the very end of february, three men tested positive for the virus. on 27 february 2020, denmark confirmed its first case, a man from roskilde who had been skiing in lombardy, italy and returned to denmark on 24 february. the next day, a man in copenhagen tested positive. he had been skiing in italy two weeks earlier, and the relatively long time period made it difficult to determine whether the virus had spread from him to others in that time. on 29 february, a man in aarhus tested positive; he was believed to have been infected at a medical conference in germany. march 2020 1 march on 1 march, a person who was already in home quarantine was tested positive. the person had been in contact with the man tested positive on 28 february. 3 march on 3 march, five people that had visited northern italy and one person that had visited iran were tested positive for covid-19. all six were placed in home quarantine. 4 march on 4 march, there were four more cases confirmed in denmark and the first confirmed case was reported from the faroe islands (an autonomous territory in the kingdom of denmark), bringing the total number of confirmed cases to fifteen. all the new cases were placed in home quarantine. the case in the faroe islands was a man with mild symptoms that had returned home from a conference in paris, france. 5 march on 5 march, there were five new confirmed cases. one of the cases was former danish national football player thomas kahlenberg, who had been infected at a birthday party in amsterdam, the netherlands. this forced the danish clubs brøndby and lyngby, and the dutch club ajax to place some of their players and coaches, who had recently met with kahlenberg, into quarantine. kahlenberg described his symptoms as similar to a flu, and he was placed in home quarantine. on the same date, the first dane that had been confirmed infected on 27 february also became the first dane to be declared fully recovered. 6 march on 6 march, there were three new confirmed cases, including one in the faroe islands (the second case for this archipelago). 7 march on 7 march, there were six new confirmed cases. most danes confirmed to be infected with sars-cov-2 had contracted it abroad, and they had infected a few people in denmark (there had been no person-to-person spread within denmark where the source was unknown). 8 march on 8 march, there were eight new confirmed cases, including a patient first admitted to north zealand hospital hillerød with symptoms resembling pneumonia. another mild case where the patient was placed in home quarantine was the first person confirmed to have covid-19 in the north jutland region, meaning that all five regions of denmark now had cases. 9 march on 9 march, there were 53 new confirmed cases, bringing the total in denmark to 90. among all those infected, six were in hospital, but none of them required intensive care. 10 march on 10 march, there were 172 new cases, bringing the total in denmark to 262. among the new cases was one patient admitted to hospital, bringing the total to seven. 11 march on 11 march, there were 252 new cases, bringing the total in denmark to 514. one of the cases, who likely had become infected at a meeting where another attendee was infected, caused particular concern because the person worked in a nursing home. as a result, the elderly at the nursing home were isolated in their own rooms, they were closely monitored, and tests were being performed. among all the infected people in denmark, ten patients were in hospital, including two in intensive care. prime minister mette frederiksen announced major restrictions on this day, asking danes to act with a sense of collective responsibility and community spirit in the face of coming hardships. 12 march on 12 march, there were 160 new confirmed cases, bringing the total in denmark to 674. among these were two at the nursing home where the elderly had been isolated and closely monitored since the day before because an employee was tested positive. on the same date, former footballer thomas kahlenberg announced that he had been declared fully recovered, making him the second publicly known recovery in the country. whereas many early cases were related to people returning from ski holiday in northern italy, many cases discovered later were related to people returning from ski holiday in tyrol in austria. an 80-year-old man with a history of heart disease tested positive after having a heart attack and dying in the north jutland region. although unclear whether the virus had played a role in it, the authorities counted it as the first fatality related to covid-19 in denmark. 13 march on 13 march, there were 127 new confirmed cases, bringing the total in denmark to 801. in addition, the faroe islands had their third confirmed case. among all the infected people in denmark, 23 were in hospital, including 4 in intensive care. 14 march on 14 march, there were 26 new confirmed cases in denmark, bringing the total to 827. another 6 were confirmed in the faroe islands, bringing the total to 9 in this archipelago. the second person died from covid-19 in denmark, in the capital region. it was an 81-year-old that was already weakened due to other serious diseases. april 2020 6 april on 6 april, prime minister mette frederiksen announced what she called the "first phase" of the reopening of denmark: she announced that nurseries and kindergartens would be opened again on 15 april and that folkeskole would be reopened for pupils in years 1–6 (danish: 0.-5. klasse); furthermore, the final exams for pupils in year 10 (danish: 9. klasse), the last year of the folkeskole, were cancelled. restaurants, cafés and hairdressers were to remain closed until 10 may, and larger gatherings will be prohibited until september. 10 april the danish health authority changed its guideline to say that asymptomatic people can transmit the disease, from saying that the risk was "unconfirmed" or "very small" to "significant". as documented by the danish newspaper berlingske, there has long been consensus among experts that this was indeed the case (and it had long been widely reported common knowledge), and the health authority was unable or unwilling to defend their previous claim. it had previously been strongly criticized that workers in a retirement home were asked to continue working after having had contact with sick persons, again against all expert advice, and apparently because of danish health authority guidelines. may 2020 on 12 may, prime minister mette frederiksen announced a new offensive testing strategy, which aims to "strengthen the contact tracing". the national testing strategy is based on three essential elements: testing, tracing and isolation. the new testing strategy takes a more aggressive approach with broader testing of both symptomatic and asymptomatic individuals. the new testing strategy also charge the local municipalities with providing holiday centres, hotels or the like, as a voluntary offer of self-isolation. as a part of new offensive testing strategy, the prime minister presented a new government agency. the agency will be organized under the ministry of justice. the ministry of justice said that experience in dealing with covid-19 in denmark shows that there is a need for a consistent and transverse coordination and support of government efforts, for example to ensure the supply of socially critical infrastructure. the implementation of the new offensive test strategy, the detection of infection and better possibilities for self-isolation require a massive support from, among other things, the use of the test-system, security of supply and practical operation. at the same time, there is a need for health authorities in such a situation to focus on the core tasks of health care. in order to strengthen more permanently the overall regulatory effort, this new government agency was established. the agency is expected to be fully operational in august 2020. august 2020 masks/face shields become mandatory in public transport. october 2020 the mask mandate gets extended to most public places. november 2020 on 4 november, it was announced that all mink nationwide were being slaughtered due to reports that a mutated sars-cov-2 virus was being passed from mink to humans via mink farms, and that at least 12 human infections had been discovered in northern jutland. while the state serum institute (ssi, statens serum institut) suggested that this mutation was no more dangerous than other coronaviruses, ssi head kåre mølbak warned that the mutation could impact the development and effectiveness of covid-19 vaccines. on 5 november, it was announced that a new lockdown and movement restrictions would be implemented in seven municipalities of northern jutland beginning 6 november. april 2021 as of 12 april, there have been 237,792 confirmed cases of covid-19 with 2,441 deaths. danish health authority announced on 14 april they ceased using the oxford astrazeneca covid-19 vaccine over concerns of serious side effects. june 2021 on 29 june, health minister magnus heunicke announced that the government bought 1.17 million covid-19 vaccines from romania. the government agrees to phase out the requirement of masks in public. november 2021 the mask mandate gets reinforced along with several other restrictions. january 2022 as of january 21, 1,319,695 cases have been confirmed. cases reach an all-time high of 20-40 thousand daily cases throughout most of january. february 2022 on february 1, 2022, most restrictions were lifted, with authorities stating that the virus was no longer a "critical threat". testing, treatment and preventive measures testing tent outside rigshospitalet in denmark, aalborg university hospital, aarhus university hospital, hvidovre hospital, odense university hospital, rigshospitalet and zealand university hospital roskilde have sections prepared for serious cases of covid-19 that require treatment, as well as patients that are elderly or have pre-existing conditions and therefore are particularly vulnerable to the disease. other hospitals were required by the regions to prepare lists of non-essential operations that can be postponed. this would allow the manpower, space and equipment to rapidly be allocated towards an outbreak of coronavirus. on 11 march 2020, the first hospitals began postponing non-essential operations as a preparation for future cases of covid-19, and