Denmark urges social restraint after record Covid surge

Copenhagen, Dec 30 (IANS) With a record number of 23,228 new Covid-19 cases reported in the last 24 hours, health officials in Denmark have urged citizens to "see as few people as possible" during the holiday season.Among the cases reported are 1,205 reinfections, or about one in every 20, according to statistics from the Statens Serum Institut (SSI) on Wednesday.With only a day to go until New Year's Eve, the Director of Denmark's Health Authority (SST) Soren Brostrom strongly urged Danes to opt for quiet celebrations on the 31st, reports Xinhua news agency."See as few people as possible, and keep it quiet," said Brostrom at a press conference.The official did not provide more specific advice, but noted that "the entire population has lived with Covid-19 for almost two years and knows how it is transmitted".The SSI also registered 16 new deaths in the past 24 hours, bringing the national totals to 3,247 deaths and 762,299 cases since the pandemic began.According to SSI's academic director Tyra Grove Krause, the Omicron variant is now identified in 80 per cent of positive samples."Overall, we can say that we have a growing epidemic and an Omicron-driven epidemic," said Krause at the press conference, predicting that the epidemic would peak in January 2022.Additionally, the SSI reports that 77.6 per cent of the population have been fully vaccinated, and 45.7 per cent have received a booster shot.
--IANS ksk/

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