Last Week in Denmark Episode 24 (12.06-19.06)
Vaccination HQ
Status: 50,3% of the population has been vaccinated (2.941.171 people). 27,2% of the population has received the second vaccine shot (1.589.896 people).
Corona infection status: There is an average of 200 new infected people every day. 84 people are hospitalized. The five municipalities with the highest rate of infection are: Jammerbugt, Glostrup, Frederikshavn, Aalborg and Aarhus. Check out more data here.
Vaccination calendar: Find out here, when is your turn to receive the vaccine. The calendar has been updated on 1st of June. The vaccination campaign should be completed by 12th September. The focus for next week will be the age group 25-29 and 35-39 years old.
Corona after effects: A danish-swedish scientist team has started research on the corona after effects. The 15 scientists will establish a biobank (to store biological samples for use in research), a smell and taste clinic and map the late effects of COVID-19. Value of the project? 27 million dkk. Read more here.
Danish Politics HQ
Political quiz: How well do you know what happened in the previous week in Denmark? Take the quiz and find out. (It’s in Danish).
Travel Reopening: The foreign ministry has released the weekly update (with the map in three colors - yellow, orange, red).
Yellow (European Union): Cyprus, Croatia, Luxembourg, Austria, Germany, Italy, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Malta, Finland, Portugal, 8 regions of Spain (Asturias, Balearic Islands, Extremadura, Galicia, Canary Islands, Murcia, Melilla and Valencia), 7 regions of France (Mayotte, Martinique, Corsica, Bretagne, Aquitaine, Occitanie, Provence - Côte D’Azur) and 9 regions of Greece (Peloponnes, Voreio Aigaio, Notio Aigaio, Makedonia Thraki, Creta, Epirus, Ionian Islands, West Greece and Central Greece).
Yellow (World): Albania, Lebanon, North Macedonia, Serbia, Switzerland, Iceland, Norway, Rwanda, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Israel.
Red: Nepal, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Eswatini, India, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as the region of La Réunion, an overseas French territory.
Nurses on strike: After 66,7% of the nurses voted against the collective agreement with the regional governments, the Danish Council of Nurses decided to go on strike. Why? The nurses are unhappy with the salary proposed. 5,000 nurses went on strike Saturday night. Read here more.
Parallel societies: A broad political majority in the Parliament has passed a law to turn areas with high crime rate, low education, low employment and a high percentage of people with non-western backgrounds into “prevention areas”. The law creates tools that can be used to ensure a more mixed composition of residents. Read more here.
Ban of pesticides: The environment minister, Lea Wermelin, wants to ban the use of pesticides in public and private areas. Why? Pesticides go into the groundwater. Read more here.
Adjustment to the citizenship law: After public pressure, the integration minister has agreed to exempt the people that applied for citizenship before 20th April 2021 from the new citizenship requirements. Read more here.
Danish Economy HQ
Bank merger: Jutlander Bank and Sparekassen Vendsyssel have merged into one bank, Sparekassen Danmark. Why? To create Denmark's largest, most profitable and best capitalized guarantor savings bank. The new bank will have headquarters in Vrå (Hjørring Kommune), with two main centers (Aars and Hobro). Read more here.
Food entrepreneurs: The store chain IRMA is looking for new, exciting products - especially those from small food entrepreneurs. Small producers who are courageous, think new, think about the taste and about the climate. Read more here.
Daily Life in Denmark HQ
Biodiversity Council: The government has agreed to establish an independent body of experts that will advise them on biodiversity matters. The council will give recommendations on how to use the 888 million dkk set aside for investments in recovery of nature. The universities will nominate the 9 experts. Read more here.
Food waste collaboration: The app “Too good to go” has established a partnership with the restaurant chain “Jensen’s Bøfhus”. You will be able to find two different boxes from “Jensen’s Bøfhus” on the app. Read more here.
Study drugs: Authorities warn strongly against online purchase of study drugs. Why? Basically because you do not know what you put in your mouth. Read more here.
Royal Run: 12 September in Copenhagen, Aalborg, Odense, Sønderborg and Bornholm. You can choose to run either one mile, 5K or 10K. You can sign up here. What’s so special about this run? You do it together with the Danish royals.
New property valuations: If you are a house owner, you can expect a new valuation of your property in the next 2 years. If you overpaid in property value tax in the last decade, you will receive your money back. Read more here.
The World in 2021 HQ
Israel: The parliament approved a new coalition government, ending the historic 12-year rule of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and sending the polarizing leader into the opposition. Read more here.
G7 Summit: The leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, USA and UK met in Cornwall (UK) last week. Main decisions - donation of one billion vaccine doses to poor countries; warning sent to China on human rights abuses and hostile military maneuvers; no agreement on when to phase out coal. Read more here.
NATO Summit: The leaders of the NATO countries met in Bruxelles (Belgium) last week. Main decisions - Warning sent to Russia and China; Cyberattacks are reason enough to activate article 5; Withdrawal from Afghanistan; and more.
Cristiano Ronaldo vs. Coca Cola: Cristiano Ronaldo’s removal of two Coca-Cola bottles during a press conference at the European Championship, led to the company’s share price dropping from $56.10 to $55.22 almost immediately after Ronaldo’s gesture, a 1.6% dip. The market value of Coca-Cola went from $242bn to $238bn – a drop of $4bn. Read more here.
European Union HQ
Conference on the Future of Europe: the conference will run until the spring of 2022, when the conclusions of the event will become guidelines for the development of the Union. It will contain the future that the majority wants, whatever that might be. Access the hub of the Conference, which is a multilingual digital platform, and submit your ideas, discuss other people’s ideas, find events related to the Conference or even guidelines on how to organize your own event.
Until next week...
Monday: “Drinking coffee has been linked to a reduced risk of all kinds of ailments, including Parkinson’s disease, melanoma, prostate cancer, even suicide.”
Tuesday: “Many people roll their 20s through a sugar coating of nostalgia. But framing young adulthood as the best time of life is a little grim, as it puts a limit on growth.” – many of us have heard this before and then, the pressure was real and it was there to make us feel unachieved.
Wednesday: “Remember you have the power to have no opinion.” - Is one of the 50 short life advice from the stoics.
Thursday: “The fear that technology is changing us for the worse – by speeding up the world beyond our ability to cope – has been around for a long time.” The Amish community can teach us a thing or two about the way we adopt new technologies.
Friday: Here is a TED talk on A new approach to defending the human rights of migrants by Itamar Mann.
Saturday: If you have lived under a rock, here’s the news: In the game against Finland, Christian Eriksen suffered a cardiac arrest and the world was shocked. After this shaking event, many people have signed up to become ‘hjerteløber’. If you want to learn how to recognize a cardiac arrest, what are the first steps towards helping the person suffering one or how to use a defibrillator, this week’s app recommendation is for you: TrygFonden Hjerteløber (iOS & Android).
See you on Sunday!