Denmark extends lockdown until Feb. 7

By Davut Colak

COPENHAGEN (AA) - The Danish government Wednesday decided to extend the coronavirus lockdown by three weeks until Feb. 7 due to concerns over a new variant of the virus.

Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said in a press conference that the country expects a jump in cases and more admission to hospitals throughout winter due to the new variant of coronavirus, B117.

The current lockdown was set to end by Jan. 17.

Heunicke said among the people who tested positive for coronavirus, 3.6% were infected with the new variant, encouraging citizens who have contacts with different people to be tested once a week.

Henrik Ullum, head of State Serum Institute, said the R number for the novel coronavirus was recorded at 0.9 while the new variant of coronavirus has 1.2 R number, which means every 10 people who test positive for the virus transmit it to 12 people.

The reproduction number, or simply the R value, is the key to measure the spread of the virus among people. The value simply shows how many healthy people will be infected by a sick person. If it is higher than 1, it means that the pandemic is growing. This is why governments across the world are trying to keep the R value below one.