Corona passes and facemasks must return, insist experts following another 2021 record high number of infections

Increasing numbers underline need to give everyone a third injection

The 2,598 corona infections, which set a record daily high for 2021 in Denmark yesterday, absolutely underlines the need to take fast action, Professor Eskild Petersen has told TV2.

Petersen is part of an expert group that made projections on Tuesday that the infection rate would soon climb over 2,000, but even he was surprised by Thursday’s figures.

Clearly, he said, the corona pass requirement for indoor venues, as well as the need to wear facemasks, needs to be reinforced as quickly as possible.

Support from health authority
Søren Brostrøm, the head of the Sundhedsstyrelsen health authority, recommended reintroducing the corona pass yesterday.

But Petersen is adamant that facemasks must return too: “After all, we won’t be able to vaccinate 4 million Danes with a third jab in two to three weeks.”

His expert group estimate the infection rate could otherwise rise to 4,500.

Most cases are unvaccinated
A recent Statens Serum Institut study estimates that between 15 and 20 percent of all infections occur among people fully vaccinated.

Furthermore, around 0.5 percent of all people who have been vaccinated in Denmark – the current rate is just over 75 percent of the country – have been infected.

But there have been very few cases of somebody with three injections being infected, or indeed somebody who had corona and was then months later vaccinated.