Denmark to lift all COVID-19 restrictions in September

Denmark announced that it will lift all remaining COVID-19 restrictions by Sept. 10, according to The Guardian.

The country’s health ministry declared the virus “no longer a critical threat to society” due to Denmark’s vaccination rate, which is the third highest in the European Union with 71 percent of the population having gotten the shot, The Guardian reported. 

“The epidemic is under control, we have record vaccination levels,” Denmark’s health minister, Magnus Heunicke, said in a statement Friday. “That is why we can drop the special rules we had to introduce in the fight against COVID-19.” 

Heunicke clarified that although the country is in a stable enough place now to take away restrictions, the government would not hesitate to “act quickly” if cases start to rise. 

The Danish government’s decision to proclaim that the virus is no longer a “critical threat” after Sept. 10 effectively removes the legal basis for restrictions on businesses and other establishments like museums and sports arenas, a health ministry spokesman told The Guardian.  

Denmark, which was one of the first European countries to impose a lockdown in March 2020, enacted a nationwide shutdown this past December as coronavirus cases began to surge around the holidays. 

The country launched coronavirus passports for vaccinated residents this spring as part of its reopening effort.