Coronavirus: Denmark’s Young Children Return to School
Prime
Minister Mette Frederiksen welcomed children as they went back to school in the
capital Copenhagen.
Denmark
was among the first countries in Europe to impose a lockdown, with schools
closed on 12 March.
Infection
rates have been low but critics warn the strategy is risky.
"We're
all a bit nervous and we'll have to ensure that we stick to hygiene
rules," Elisa Rimpler of the BUPL, the Danish Union of Early Childhood and
Youth Educators, told the BBC.
"We
have a lot of washing hands during the day. We don't have masks and we have to
keep a good distance from each other so that's a very difficult task."
Denmark's
move came as European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen set out a roadmap
on Wednesday for a gradual lifting of restrictions across the 27-state bloc,
but made clear it was not a signal to act immediately.
She
set out key conditions involving a significant decrease in the spread of
Covid-19, capacity in the health system, surveillance and monitoring. A donors'
conference will take place online for governments and organisations to pledge
money in search of a vaccine, Mrs von der Leyen added.
Other countries
besides Denmark have moved to relax lockdown measures this week:
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel will discuss easing restrictions with the country's 16 state
premiers on Wednesday, with reports that they are expected to agree to a
limited reopening of smaller shops from next Monday and a relaxation of rules
on movement from 3 May.
Spain
reported another 523 deaths on Wednesday and a 3% increase in infections but
officials said the rise in new cases may have been due to a delay in reporting
because of the Easter break.
Denmark has so far
reported 299 deaths and 6,681 positive cases, although many more are thought to
be infected.
It
has been widely praised for its swift action in restricting movement before
Covid-19 infections were able to spread across the population - leading it to
be compared to South Korea.
The head of the SSI
infectious diseases institute said Denmark had managed to reduce the number of
other people that one positive case infects from 2.6 people before the 12 March
lockdown, to 0.6.
Tyra
Grove Krause told Danish TV that the success had proved how social distancing,
hygiene and other measures such as working from home could work.
The prime minister
has said so much progress has been made that she is discussing with political
partners how to push forward with a further easing of the restrictions.
On
a visit to a school in the Valby area of the capital, Ms Frederiksen said she
understood that some parents still preferred to keep their children at home.
Some
political figures have expressed concerns that guidelines setting out who should
go back to school are unclear. The schools themselves will decide whether staff
in an at-risk category should be at work or remain at home.
Angela Merkel held
talks with cabinet ministers on Wednesday before discussing an easing of
measures with Germany's 16 states.
According
to reports in German media, shops of up to 400 sq m (4,300 sq ft) will be
allowed to reopen from 20 April subject to strict conditions on the number of
customers allowed in at a time. Larger stores would then be allowed to reopen
from 4 May along with hairdressers.
Curbs
on people's movement are likely to remain in place up until 3 May.
Some
of Germany's states disagree on how to relax restrictions. North
Rhine-Westphalia, Germany's most populous state, aims to reopen schools
gradually starting with primary schools from the start of next week. Bavaria's
state premier, Markus Söder, believes that is too soon.
Germany's
RKI public health institute has said the number of deaths from coronavirus has
risen by another 285 in the past 24 hours to 3,254, which is relatively low for
a population of 83 million. It now has 127,584 positive cases.
The
economy ministry said Germany fell into recession last month and is unlikely to
come out of it before mid-2020.
FROM .bbc.com/news/world-europe-
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