More coronavirus restrictions in the Copenhagen Area

Copenhagen City and 16 surrounding municipalities face more measures starting on the 7 December to curb spread.

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By Bente D. Knudsen

Danish Health Minister, Magnus Heunicke, said at the press meeting on 1 December that the rise in spread in the 17 municipalities around Copenhagen was cause for concern.

The municipalities are:
Albertslund, Ballerup, Brøndby, Gladsaxe, Glostrup, Herlev, Hvidovre, Høje-Taastrup, Ishøj, Rødovre, Vallensbæk, Dragør, Frederiksberg, Gentofte, Copenhagen, Lyngby-Taarbæk and Tårnby.

In all of them the rise was seen amongst the youth and young adults; age groups 10 to 29 accounting for 50 percent of the new infections.

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To halt spread before the Christmas festivities with all of its many family events it is therefore the ambition of the public health authorities to test more than 200,000 citizens aged 15 to 25 in order to find those infected and to ensure they are isolated before they can spread the virus further.

Mobile test units from other parts of the country will help the Capital Region reinforce its present testing capacity.

Also, at sports and leisure activities for young people (those under the age of 21), which so far have not had any restrictions imposed, from 7 December and until the 2 January, only 10 can take part in the same sports activity. Music and sports classes from high school level are to be cancelled.

Schools will remain open until the Christmas holiday, however, all cross activities between classes are to be cancelled, classes are to eat int their classrooms.

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For high schools, other youth education institutions and universities, online classes and online exams are to take place wherever possible.

Working from home in general whenever possible is encouraged. The restrictions will run from 7 December until 2 January 2021.

In the whole country the retail sector will be asked to ensure safe Christmas shopping by having longer opening hours and ensuring that less people shop at the same time.

The orange line is the country average infected per 100,000 residents. Each blue column shows the incidence rate of one of the 17 municipalities in the Copenhagen area for a 7 day period as at 30 November 2020. Picture: Screen dump from sum.dk

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No news concerning Christmas and the Christmas holiday restrictions was given, however, it is expected that more information will come as the end date of the gathering ban of 10 people on 13 December approaches.

The health authorities underline that the situation gives rise for concern but that it is still under control and the present testing especially focuses on finding those infected amongst the young age group in order to make sure they do not infect their older family members for Christmas.