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National Round-Up: Ethnic minorities make up significant part of coronavirus infections

Elsewhere, housing prices are up, 9th graders are drinking more and theft over the summer was at a record low

Roselyne Min

According to a newly published report by the Staten Serum Institute, ethnic minorities are overrepresented in coronavirus infection statistics.

Of the 756 new cases registered last week, 70 percent involve an ethnic origin other than Danish.

Aarhus Municipality saw a large increase last week, including 179 cases involving people of Somali heritage.

Due to social inequality
Chief physician at the immigrant medicine clinic at Odense University Hospital told TV2 that “the development of infection is not a question of ethnicity, but of social inequality” as many ethnic minorities work in vulnerable jobs where they are exposed to many other people.

Housing prices increased last month
Despite the pandemic the number of homes for sale is currently the lowest in 14 years, which has lead to higher sales prices, TV2 reports. Nationwide, apartment and house prices have risen by an average of 2.1 and 1.1 percent respectively in the past month. However, if inflation over the years is taken into account, these are not record-high prices for houses.

9th graders in Denmark drinking more
According to the recently published report, European Substance Abuse Survey (ESPAD), 9th-grade students in Denmark drink more often than before – 40 percent of both boys and girls have been intoxicated in the past month. In 2019, some 17 percent of students said they had smoked cannabis, compared to 12 percent in 2015. Furthermore, 12 percent of students who had more than five drinks on the same occasion during the past 30 days have also smoked cannabis during the same period. The European report with comparable results from other European countries is expected to be published in November 2020. See the overall report.

Record low number of thefts this summer
According to the new figures from Denmark’s second-largest insurance company Topdanmark the number of thefts in July was far lower than usual. Normally, over 1,000 thefts are reported to the insurance company during the summer. In July 2019, a total of 1023 thefts were reported while the number was only 579 this year – a decrease of approximately 44 percent. The insurance company estimates the figures are partly down to the coronavirus-related requirements such as social distancing and travel limitations.

More people shopping for daily goods online
According to the online grocery service Nemlig.com, the online shopping of groceries and daily goods have seen a big breakthrough this year. The first half of 2020 has shown an explosive development in the number of customers – particularly new ones.  In the first six months of the year, the number of new customers on nemlig.com increased by 108% compared with the first half of 2019. The company estimates its turnover increased by more than 50% in the first half of 2020.

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