Claus Bech/Ritzau Scanpix via AP
COPENHAGEN, Denmark — After 548 days with restrictions to limit the spread of COVID-19, Denmark’s high vaccination rate has enabled the Scandinavian country to become one of the first European Union nations to lift all domestic restrictions.
The return to normality has been gradual, but as of Friday, the digital pass — a proof of having been vaccinated — is no longer required when entering night clubs, making it the last virus safeguard to fall.
More than 80% of people above the age of 12 have had the two shots.
“I wouldn’t say it is too early. We have opened the door but we have also said that we can close it if needed,” Soeren Riis Paludan, a professor of virology with the Aarhus University in Denmark’s second largest city, told The Associated Press.
As of midnight, the Danish government no longer considers COVID-19 “a socially critical disease.” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Aug. 27 that “the epidemic is under control” but warned: “we are not out of the epidemic” and the government will act as needed if necessary.
Jens Lundgren, a professor of viral diseases at the Copenhagen University Hospital said the government would be “quite willing” to reintroduce restrictions if infections spike again. He pointed at night clubs being the last thing to open because “it is the activity associated with the highest risk of transmission.”
“The world is in the middle of a pandemic and none of us can claim that we are beyond the pandemic,” said Lundgren who described Denmark as being “an isolated island” where the vaccine rollout has worked.
“Nobody should have the illusion that we are over this.”
The country has been relaxing the rules for a while
The tipping point in…
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