Denmark introduces new COVID-19 alert system
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E-mail Xinhua, November 1, 2020
COPENHAGEN, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- At a quickly-convened press conference on Saturday, the Danish government unveiled a new national coronavirus alert system to access the level of risk in the fight against COVID-19.
"This warning system will be a central part of our communication in the future," said Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke at the press conference.
According to Heunike, the new warning system, supported by a number of leading health professional and financial experts, will contain five risk levels, tuned to provide a different response, with level 5 being the most serious.
The new five-level system is designed to make the ongoing crisis more transparent for the public and business sector, reported the Copenhagen Post news portal.
Heunicke said that some of the factors, which determine what level Denmark is at, will include contact numbers and new COVID-19 infection cases per 100,000 persons per week.
He said that Denmark is currently at risk level 3, which means there are widespread infections in society, with the potential for rapid acceleration in infection numbers, said the Copenhagen Post.
Risk level 4 means widespread infection in society and slight capacity pressure on hospitals. Risk level 5 means widespread infection in society and the risk of treatment capacity in hospitals being exceeded, it said.
Meanwhile, Minister of Economic and Business Affairs, Simon Kollerup, hoped that the new warning system would make things "more predictable" for the business community who needed to be able to predict the government's response to the coronavirus.
"When the alert system turns red, the money and help packages follow. It is important for me to emphasize," said Kollerup.
Also at the press conference, Heunicke said Denmark registered 1,126 new infections in a 24-hour span, the second-highest number of daily infections since the pandemic began.
"November will be absolutely crucial to get the infection under control," said Heunicke.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, countries including Germany, France, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are racing to find a vaccine.
According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Oct. 29, there were 201 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 45 of them were in clinical trials. Enditem
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