COVID-19 on decline in Denmark: SSI study

By Trend

The results of an ongoing study of blood donors confirm that the COVID-19 pandemic is on the decline in Denmark, the Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the country's leading infectious diseases agency, said in a press release on Friday, Trend reports citing Xinhua.

The SSI has registered a "clear decrease" in the number of new infections in recent weeks, the institute's Director, Henrik Ullum, said. "This is gratifying and it shows that Denmark, due to its high levels of population immunity from both vaccines and infections, is in a good place right now against the threat of COVID-19."

According to the SSI, recent analyses of blood samples have shown that up to 70 percent of Denmark's adult population (aged between 17 and 72) may have been infected with SARS-CoV-2 since November 2021.

The study's most recent (fifth) round, in which samples from 5,939 blood donors were analyzed, revealed that 56 percent of participants had antibodies to the SARS-CoV-2 virus in their blood, 5 percent more than two weeks prior. In February, the figure stood at 17 percent.

"This is approximately the same result as in the previous round of the study, which shows that the COVID-19 pandemic is on the decline and that the decrease in the number of detected cases is not only due to fewer tests being performed," the press release said.

According to the SSI's updated statistics, Denmark has logged 3,061,773 confirmed COVID-19 cases and 5,723 deaths since the start of the pandemic.

To date, 80.8 percent of the country's population, or 4,754,182 people, have received two vaccine doses and 61.5 percent, or 3,616,885, a booster shot.