Denmark is about to return to precautionary normalcy

Denmark will reopen almost completely on Friday and gradually eliminate the use of the national coronavirus passport and even use masks during the summer, as it aims to be one of the first European countries to return completely to normal after the pandemic. Covid-19.

Denmark’s political parties agreed on Tuesday that public sector jobs, universities, sports and music clubs, zoos, theme parks and saunas would reopen from Friday. According to an opposition leader, only nightclubs will remain closed.

Countries across the EU have been slowly lifting coronavirus restrictions this week in the hope that accelerating vaccination programs will allow for a faster return to normal life, though epidemiologists have warned that change may come too soon and that progress can be reversed.

Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said Denmark was “in a very favorable place” in the pandemic despite a small increase in recent Covid-19 cases, and that its massive testing capabilities and the possibility of local blockades they allowed him to move forward with more reopening.

The passport of the coronavirus of the Scandinavian country, which has been crucial in the early stages of reopening, will be gradually withdrawn from June for anything other than foreign travel, as visitors to libraries and sports clubs from Friday they will not have to show the document.

Facial masks will disappear before August, according to the multi-party agreement, with a full plan to be unveiled next month.

Although many European countries have a gradual reopening plan in place, Greece and parts of Spain, such as the capital of Madrid, are already almost completely open. In Switzerland, where the vaccination rate remains behind EU averages, most restrictions on what can be opened will be removed by the end of the month.

Denmark’s vaccination rate is slightly above the EU average, but well behind that of the UK, Malta, Hungary and Iceland. All adults are expected to be fully vaccinated by the end of August.

Soren Riis Paludan, a professor of biomedicine at Aarhus University, said health experts in Denmark were divided by the speed of the reopening. However, he added that, with all those over 70 vaccinated and with a low mortality rate, “this reopening makes sense. . . All in all, I think we will see an increase in the number of people infected, but not much hospitalization or death. “

From Friday, 20% of workers – mainly in the public sector – will be able to return to the office; half can return from June 14 and everyone from August 1. All higher and higher education students will be able to return to physical education from Friday.

Denmark has made more intense use of its “crowns” than any other European country to open cafes, restaurants and museums. But there has been a growing backlash from center-right opposition politicians over the need to review passports for each visit.

Tuesday’s agreement extends the use of the passport to people who received the first punch more than two weeks ago, not just to those who were completely vaccinated and to people with a negative test result in the last 72 hours.

The Scandinavian country has tested more than 10% of its population a few days as part of its reopening efforts.