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Danish News Round-Up: 102 new coronavirus cases registered

Elsewhere, the dismantling of Tyra platforms begins and the ‘White Nights’ are coming to an end

The Serum Statens Institut (SSI) on Monday registered 102 new coronavirus cases. While the total number of cases registered over the weekend was 207.

Trends over the past month have indicated an upsurge from one weekend to another.

Kåre Mølbak from the SSI expressed concern at the rising tally, telling DR that the country could soon see the epidemic get “out of control”.

Exponential growth model
However, Viggo Andreasen, an associate professor at the Department of Science and the Environment in the Roskilde University Center, said  the rise could be attributed to greater testing.

Besides, he pointed out, only 0.5 percent of those tested for coronavirus last week resulted positive.

Andreasen said the virus had an exponential growth model and that it is essential to “intervene”.

Measures in place
Both experts emphasised that social distancing measures must remain intact, adding that people must observe a two-metre distance in public places.

Andreasen urged the authorities to take action should those with coronavirus not isolate at home.

He said that municipalities should offer to quarantine infected patients in hotels or other places instead of their homes in order to keep family members safe.


More COVID-19 cases at Ringsted slaughterhouse
Some 17 new coronavirus cases have been detected at Danish Crown’s slaughterhouse in Ringsted. The cases take the total count to 79 since the first employee tested positive in July. In order to control the spread, the slaughterhouse has introduced mandatory body temperature checks. It has  been reported that employees with readings higher than 37.8 (Fahrenheit) are sent home.

DF leader squashes rumours of promoting Messerschmidt ‘under pressure’
Dansk Folkeparti leader Kristian Thulesen Dahl has denied rumours that he was pressured to promote Morten Messerschmidt to replace Søren Espersen as the party’s deputy leader. Earlier the outspoken MEP had criticised DF’s political line, rebuking the party for being ‘weak’ in regards to value policy whilst criticising Dahl in the process.

Those summer nights! Denmark back to  ‘carbon black’ nights … slowly
Gedser, which is pretty much the country’s most southern tip, experienced a ‘carbon black’ night on Monday after almost three months of ‘White Nights’ – the phenomenon in which it remains reasonably light because the sun is still quite close to the horizon. The ‘white nights’, which starts in the north of the country in May, will end there this week.

Staffers in COVID-19 departments more infected than others – survey
Surveys conducted in the aftermath of the coronavirus pandemic have shown that hospitals employees working in specialist COVID-19 wards were infected more than workers in other wards. The survey also revealed that some staffers had anti-bodies in their system and had therefore become immune to the virus without knowing they had contracted it. Around 4.5 percent of all frontline workers had anti-bodies in their blood.

North Sea witnesses construction of new drilling platforms
Work has begun on the reconstruction of the 14,000-tonne Tyra platform in the North Sea, which is being demolished to construct new drilling platforms. The field has supplied Denmark with oil and gas since 1984. The cost of reconstruction is 21 billion kroner—the highest investment in the North Sea to date.