How Denmark is living with Covid-19 as an endemic disease

The only place in the Danish capital where you can still see something of the Covid-19 pandemic is at the airport.

Young health workers ask travellers: "Are you double vaccinated?" Most travellers nod and hurry towards the exit. The workers do not ask for proof. Only those who answer in the negative are directed to take the Covid-19 test.

In the subway station behind the airport exit, the travellers tear their masks off. There are about 60 people in the carriage. Only one passenger keeps his mouth guard on.

Last Thursday, the long-awaited new instalment of the James Bond franchise premiered, and the 6pm screening at the Imperial, Denmark's largest cinema with 996 seats, sold out days in advance.

The film is titled No Time To Die. For the Danes, the motto now is rather: Finally, time to live properly again.

On Sept 10, the government lifted Covid-19's status as a "critical threat to society", downgraded it to "a serious disease" and lifted the last restrictions.

One day later, Danish rock band The Minds of 99 played at the national stadium in front of 50,000 people.

The cheers reverberated across the city. People were celebrating not just a rock band, but also the perceived end of the pandemic.

"This is only possible because we have come a long way in introducing vaccination, we have the epidemic well under control and because the entire Danish population has made great efforts to achieve this goal," said Health Minister Magnus Heunicke.

Unlike in neighbouring Germany, there are hardly any vaccination sceptics or opponents in Denmark. At the beginning of last month, more than 80 per cent of people over the age of 12 were already fully vaccinated. Among those over 60, the figure was as high as 96 per cent. As at last Wednesday, 74.5 per cent of the total population were fully vaccinated.

Accordingly, the number of deaths has dwindled. In January, up to 32 people a day died of Covid-19 in Denmark. Since mid-March, the number has been stable, at a maximum of four deaths a day.

At the beginning of January, the number of hospitalisations hit a peak, with 942 patients. Currently, 89 people are still being treated in hospitals, 16 of them in intensive care units.

"Ninety-five per cent of the population say they trust the health authorities," said Professor Michael Bang Petersen, explaining the high vaccination coverage.

The political scientist at Aarhus University has been surveying the mood of the population in daily polls since the beginning of the crisis. "In the long run, transparent communication is the key to success for this trust," he said.

This includes pointing out uncertainties, he said. The authorities and advising scientists had repeatedly stressed that fighting the pandemic was a learning process.

When Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced a lockdown earlier than other European leaders on March 11 last year, she said: "Will we make mistakes? Yes, we will."

Overall, the government steered the country very well through the crisis, also thanks to its efficient and digitalised administration, compared with other countries in Europe. As early as April last year, an agency, TestCenter Danmark, was established to drive a large-scale mass testing strategy together with Danish pharmaceutical company NovoNordisk. Mass testing was a key factor for the Danes to control the pandemic. Denmark was also the first country in Europe to have a functioning digital "Corona Passport" with test results delivered directly to one's smartphone.

Trust in the government was also helped by the suspension of the AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines in March, when studies suspected severe side effects.

Besides trust, a strong sense of responsibility characterises the Scandinavian welfare states, which drove people to the vaccination centres, Prof Petersen pointed out.

"Even when the pandemic was at its worst, less than 30 per cent of respondents said they were worried about themselves personally. But over 70 per cent said they were worried about Covid-19's impact on society," he noted.

Unlike Denmark, Sweden relied even more on this sense of responsibility and did not lock down - but it paid for this with more deaths, especially in nursing homes.

But now, the two countries' policies are converging. In Sweden, 76.5 per cent of those over 16 are fully vaccinated. In the 60-plus group, the figure is around 90 per cent. Last Wednesday, the government in Stockholm lifted most of the restrictions still in place.

The flip side of society's sense of responsibility is the attitude that if one does not get vaccinated and falls ill, it is one's own fault.

"My overall assessment is society now accepts it when a few people die with Covid-19, just as we accept flu as a cause of death," said Prof Petersen. This would make Covid-19 a disease like many others.

To date, 2,665 people have died of Covid-19 out of a population of 5.8 million, 88 per cent of whom live in urban areas even though the country of 43,000 sq km is characterised by vast stretches of agricultural land as well as villages and small towns. The greater Copenhagen area has 1.3 million people concentrated in it.