The borders to Denmark are closed and it is a political decision, emphasizes Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen (S), who hopes that it will mitigate the outbreak of coronavirus in Denmark.
On Saturday, the National Board of Health emphasized that it was not due to a health professional decision that the borders in Denmark are closed to all foreigners who do not have a worthy purpose.
But Denmark has to act quickly, even if studies that cannot support the initiative cannot be pointed out, the prime minister believes.
We are not in a situation where we as a government alone can allow ourselves to lean on evidence, because we are facing a new disease that is developing in a way that the authorities have not been able to foresee.
A few weeks ago there were a number of authorities who believed that the infection would not come to Denmark and that it was not dangerous.
If we have to wait for evidence-based knowledge in relation to corona, then we are simply too late, she says.
The borders to Denmark are provisionally closed for a month up to April 13, and citizens are advised not to travel abroad.
It goes without saying that if we do not do anything about the travel pattern in and out of Denmark at the same time, we risk undermining the strategy chosen in Denmark, says the prime minister.
Rather a step too far
The European Commission has called for Member States not to close their borders.
Neither the World Health Organization, WHO, nor the National Board of Health can point to any health-related evidence that it will mitigate the outbreak of coronavirus to close its borders.
But that doesn’t make the prime minister doubt the border closure.
In the end, when making far-reaching decisions for a society, it is of course a political decision. I’d rather go a step too far than the opposite.
The other has not done, we must do in a timely manner. The message from Italy to the rest of the world is: Do everything you can.
It is horrifying to see that a country so close to us is in the situation that it is, says Mette Frederiksen
However, she calls the health care advice crucial.
Europe is the new epicenter for coronavirus and Italy is the country most affected.
According to the Prime Minister, the absence of other countries’ decisions should make the citizens of Denmark think.
While large parts of public and private Denmark have been shut down, Sweden has chosen a different strategy and abstained from equally drastic measures.
Source: www.dr.dk
