Denmark records highest single-day COVID-19 infections
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E-mail Xinhua, October 23, 2020
COPENHAGEN, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- Denmark registered 760 new cases of novel coronavirus in the past 24 hours, bringing the country's total to 37,763 by Thursday, according to Statens Serum Institut (SSI), which is responsible for the Danish preparedness against infectious diseases.
The latest count is the highest ever single-day number of infections across the country since the first COVID-19 case was confirmed on Feb. 27. The previous record was registered on Sept. 25, with 678 new cases.
The 760 new cases are 1.77 percent of approximately 43,000 testing samples taken in a day, the highest recorded since the end of April, SSI noted.
But for most of the country's hospitals, their capacity is not yet under pressure as there are 124 patients hospitalized with coronavirus on Thursday, according to Soren Riis Paludan, professor of virology at Aarhus University, while talking to Danish news agency Ritzau.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen is preparing the ground for new restrictions.
"Now we see a higher number of the infected while we have seen fewer tested for a number of days. Therefore, there is cause for concern and for me to emphasize the seriousness. The coronavirus is back. And we will introduce further restrictions," Ritzau quoted her as saying.
During an afternoon press conference on Thursday, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod announced new travel restrictions in response to a "tsunami" of infections throughout Europe.
"The second wave of coronavirus infection has hit with a force that we are forced to deal with," said Kofod.
Under the new restrictions, Greece, Norway, the northern German region of Schleswig-Holstein, and some areas of Sweden are now the only countries and regions that remain open to unrestricted travel for Danes, while "unnecessary travel" to the rest of Europe is not advised.
As the world is struggling to contain the COVID-19 pandemic, countries including Germany, France, Italy, China, Russia, Britain and the United States are racing to find a vaccine.
According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Oct. 19, there were 198 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 44 of them were in clinical trials. Enditem
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