Denmark Plans Stricter Covid Rules, No Lockdown, Premier Says

(Bloomberg) -- Denmark’s government plans new coronavirus containment measures, including capacity restrictions for stores and restaurants, as the country crossed 11,000 daily confirmed cases for the first time during the pandemic.

The minority cabinet proposed closing zoos, theme parks, theaters and cinemas to halt activity in society and break contamination chains, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told reporters in Copenhagen on Friday. It will also propose compensation for businesses affected by new restrictions, she said.

“This is not a lockdown of society as we saw last winter,” Frederiksen said. “But we need to immediately reduce activity in society.” She added 11,194 cases of infection had been confirmed on Friday, with the new omicron strain making up a fifth.

Denmark, which has some of the highest numbers of omicron cases on record, has gradually been imposing more and more restrictions for more than a month to curb the spread of the new variant. Earlier this week, the country’s school children, which as a group have been driving the rise in contamination, were sent home for Christmas a week ahead of schedule.

Even though the new restrictions will likely reduce economic activity as consumers are wrapping up Christmas shopping and potentially for months to come, the economy will not be “fundamentally impacted,” the finance ministry said in an updated economic forecast earlier on Friday.

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