DENMARK has gone into total 14-day lockdown to try and halt the spread of coronavirus after a ten-fold spike in cases.
The Scandinavian country will shut all schools and universities and tell all employees with non-critical jobs to work from home.
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Denmark had 514 people diagnosed with the deadly bug as of Wednesday, rising ten-fold since Monday in what Health Minister Magnus Heunicke described as the “most dramatic increase seen in Europe”.
Two patients are in a critical condition.
Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said all students at schools and universities will be sent home from Friday, while all day care facilities will be shut from Monday.
Gatherings of more than 100 people are banned, meaning most bars and nightclubs will close.
She said: “We will not get through this as a country without a cost. Businesses will suffer losses and people will lose their jobs. The government will do what it can to help.
“Everyone who is healthy, we have a great responsibility towards the vulnerable.”
She said other tougher measures were possible including banning cruise passengers.
It comes after former Italian PM Matteo Renzi warned every country in Europe would have to follow the total lockdown in his home country.
GLOBAL PANDEMIC
Earlier the World Health Organisation today declared the coronavirus outbreak a global pandemic, as eight people were confirmed to have died from the deadly bug in the UK.
WHO director-general Dr Tedros Ghebreyesus said the number of cases of Covid-19 outside China has increased 13-fold in the past two weeks, and the number of affected countries has tripled.
More than 121,000 people have been infected in 118 countries. Over 4,300 people have died.
Dr Tedros said individual countries could still change the course of the virus through their actions, but said: “In the days and weeks ahead, we expect to see the number of Covid-19 cases, the number of deaths, and the number of affected countries, climb even higher.
“WHO has been assessing this outbreak around the clock and we are deeply concerned both by the alarming levels of spread and severity, and by the alarming levels of inaction.
“We have therefore made the assessment that Covid-19 can be characterised as a pandemic.”
In Italy, PM Guiseppe Conte added even more drastic restrictions to fight the deadly bug after Italy posted the highest daily increase in deaths of any country since the outbreak began.
Mr Conte said all shops would be shuttered except supermarkets, food stores and chemists, and companies must close all their departments that are not essential to production.
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Hairdressers and beauty parlours will close, along with bars and restaurants that cannot guarantee they can keep a distance of at least one metre between customers.
In the UK, ministers are today expected to sign off on moving the country into the “delay” phase of combating coronavirus.
Moving to delay would mean social distancing measures could be brought in, such as restricting public gatherings, and more widespread advice to stay at home.
