COPENHAGEN (Reuters) -Denmark announced plans to reopen schools and allow a range of indoor activities this week, but a cap on gatherings led to the cancellation of several summer music festivals, including the renowned Roskilde Festival.
The Nordic country has avoided a third wave of COVID-19 with broad lockdown measures introduced in late December, which drove down daily infections from several thousand to between 500 and 800 in recent months.
“Denmark needs to get back to normal as fast as possible, and it has to happen responsibly,” Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said on Tuesday.
Under the new plan agreed between the government and most lawmakers, theatres, concert venues, cinemas and gyms can reopen on Thursday. Older primary school students will also be allowed to return to school full-time.
The limit on indoor public gatherings will be raised from 10 to 25 people, although schools are exempted from this cap.
The outdoor limit is generally being raised from 50 to 75 people, but a specific cap of 2,000 attendees at outdoor concerts will rule out many events, including Roskilde, one of Europe’s largest music and culture festivals, which said they would not be going ahead this year.
Entrance to many reopened facilities is dependent on showing a “corona passport”, that shows that holders have either been vaccinated, previously infected or have had a negative test in the past 72 hours. Denmark has fully vaccinated 11.5% of its population.
Denmark is due to host four European Soccer Championship matches this summer, and will allow up to around 16,000 spectators at the events.
(Reporting by Tim Barsoe; Editing by Alison Williams, Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Pravin Char)
