Last Week in Denmark (10.10 - 17.10) Episode 34
The end of the pandemic in Denmark; World economy is booming; Higher prices; 20.000 new houses
Public Health HQ
Status: 76,2% of the population has been vaccinated (4,465,486 people). 75% of the population has received the second vaccine shot (4,394,501 people). 83,2% have received Pfizer/BioNTech; 12,4% Moderna; 3,4% AstraZeneca and 1% Johnson&Johnson. The region with the highest vaccination rate - North Denmark (78,1%).
Corona infection status: There is an average of 600 new infected people every day. 105 people are hospitalized. The five municipalities with the highest rate of infection are: Albertslund, Brøndby, Ishøj, Lolland and Gladsaxe. Check out more data here.
Travel Guidelines: The Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that the traffic light system of categorizing the countries has been abolished. From now on;
Fully vaccinated, previously infected and people with a negative test will be able to enter Denmark without restrictions. If you are not vaccinated or previously infected and without a negative test, you must take one in Denmark in the first 24 hours.
Police border control on COVID-19 is abolished.
The centres where you could get a “fast corona test” have been closed. However, the 149 centres for PCR-test remain open. 5,4 billion dkk have been spent by the regional government to keep the “fast corona test” centres in operation until now.
Inhalation treatment: The researchers from the Danish Royal Hospital have developed a treatment against COVID-19. The idea is to inhale particles that can deactivate viruses and kill bacteria. The treatment has entered the human testing phase.
Danish Politics HQ
The Social Democrat Youth has won the nationwide school election with 23,5% of the votes. 48,886 students (8th, 9th and 10th grade) from 750 schools have voted, after three weeks of intensive campaigning from the youth parties. Every 2 years, there is a nationwide school election, during which debates are organized in every school and the learning focus is on politics, after which the students choose their favourite youth party.
Housing initiative: The government decided to spend 10 billion dkk until 2035 to build 22,000 affordable homes within the 4 large cities of Denmark. As an example, an affordable home in Copenhagen of 80-90 sq. metres size should only cost 8000 dkk monthly in rent. Also, 4000 student apartments will be built. Good times are ahead for the construction industry.
Fish quotas: The fishing quotas in the Baltic Sea in 2022 have been established. Due to low fish stocks, the quotas have been reduced by 88% compared to this year. The Danish fishermen are already concerned about next year’s income and the government is looking for a solution. We could be looking at higher prices for fish next year.
The radio channels, DR P6 Beat and P8 Jazz have been saved after the government allocated 15 million dkk to keep them in operation for the next 3 years.
The Danish Foreign Ministry allocated 1.5 million dkk to support independent journalism in Moldova and donated medical equipment to Romania for the treatment of COVID-19 patients.
Danish Economy HQ
Higher prices: Life has become more expensive in Denmark. Compared to last year, a family with children needs to spend 10.000 dkk more per year on basic goods. A list of goods that got more expensive:
Gas with 55%
Diesel with 24,4%
Benzin with 18%
Electricity with 15,2%
Fish with 8,9%
The increase in gas price is the largest since 1980 and it will affect 400,000 homes that use natural gas for heating. The price for diesel and benzin has never been higher, after it reached 13.99 dkk/liter.
A good time to ask for a salary raise, no?
Housing market: The house prices have stabilized and the number of people buying a house has decreased. This means that the housing market is back to normal.
Great Dane Airline: The small airline from North Denmark has gone bankrupt. 70 people have been fired. The owner of the company (which was founded in 2018) lost almost 100 million dkk in three years.
Occupational injury: 10,150 people have reported to Arbejdsmarkedets Erhvervssikring corona-related occupational injuries. More than half are healthcare workers. 72% are women.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Facebook is building a huge data centre in Esbjerg. They just acquired 212 hectares of land from the municipality at the price of 277 million dkk.
Shortage of prison officers: If you are considering a career change, take a look at working in prisons, as there is an acute need for workers. To deal with the situation, a new school for prison officers will be established in Southeast Denmark.
Northside goes vegan: The popular Aarhus-based music festival will only allow 100% plant-based food to be served. The organizers want to set an example for other large festivals and hopefully society.
Vestas has built the world’s tallest and most powerful wind turbine. At 280 meters tall it will produce 80 gigawatts per year. It is located in Thisted municipality and will start working from 2022.
The climate council advises the government to start electrifying the trucks. Electric-powered lorries will be suitable for short-distance transportation of goods.
The World in 2021 HQ
The world economy is booming: The International Monetary Fund announced the highest world economic growth since 1973. The world GDP is expected to grow by 5,9% compared with 2020.
Squid game: Netflix announced that the South Korean tv-serial Squid Game is the most-watched program worldwide, with 111 million views since September. Have you seen it yet?
China vs. Taiwan: A record number of Chinese military aircraft have deliberately flown into Taiwan’s air defence zone, sparking alarm in Taiwan and concern across the region. The Chinese president, Xi Jinping said that Taiwan is a renegade province and it reserves the right to reunify, by force if necessary.
European Union HQ
Nobel Prize in Economics: David Card (Canada), Joshua D. Angrist (USA) and Guido W. Imbens (Netherlands) received the 2021 Swedish Royal Bank in Economics for “empirical contributions to labour economics” and “methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships”. Their approach has spread to other fields and revolutionised empirical research.
Austria’s new leader: The chancellor of Austria, Sebastian Kurz had to quit over corruption allegations. The corruption allegations relate to the period between 2016 and 2018, when finance ministry funds were suspected to have been used to manipulate opinion polls in favour of the ÖVP (Conservator Party) that were then published in a newspaper. The new chancellor is Alexander Schallenberg.
The people of Poland want Europe: More than 100,000 Poles demonstrated in support of European Union membership after a court ruling that parts of EU law are incompatible with the constitution raised concerns the country could eventually leave the bloc.
Neo-fascists groups in Italy: There are calls to ban neo-fascist movements in Italy after the violence they shown at the anti-covid pass protests.