Warning for countries with high vaccination rates after Denmark scraps restrictions
A spokesperson for the World Health Organisation (WHO) has issued a warning to countries with high vaccination rates, like Australia, who may be tempted to remove coronavirus restrictions.
It comes after Denmark completely removed all COVID-19 restrictions on February 1, declaring the virus to no longer be a "socially critical disease".
Gone are face masks, the requirement to isolate if COVID-positive, and social distancing — despite the fact the Scandinavian nation is leading the world in per capita infections.
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It is no longer mandatory to wear protection mask anywhere in public in Denmark. The Danish Government decided that COVID-19 is no longer categorised as a socially critical disease after 31 January 2022, and has lifted COVID restrictions. (Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix via AP) AP
However it does boast a high COVID-19 vaccination rate, with 80.9 per cent of eligible citizens double vaccinated and 60.9 per cent, receiving three doses.
Spokesperson for the World Health Organisation Dr Margaret Harris has deemed the move risky.
"We are certainly not looking at the common cold right now. We're looking at a very lethal and dangerous disease," she told Weekend Today, warning more variants are inevitable with a high infection rate.
"We do expect to see more variants. We have so much infection and we have so much of this virus circulating.
"We've seen already with Omicron, it's developed four linages and there is something called 'BA.2' which is replacing the first version of Omicron in some countries."
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Dr Margaret Harris, spokesperson for WHO, on Weekend Today. Today
Dr Harris fears Denmark's move could lead to complacency amongst the population, fuelling infections.
"(People) may feel like they're going back to normal. The risk is people might start doing using the risky behaviours when this virus is very much still circulating around Europe and the world," she said.
"The critical thing is to really be testing and to be watching what's happening so that you know early whether or not you have to change your strategy."
The doctor went on to flag the measures that would help to protect countries considering following Denmark's lead.
In Australia 93.7 per cent of people aged 16 and over are fully vaccinated, while 8,838,517 total people over the age of 16 years old have received more than two doses nationally. Getty
"We simply say be very careful," she said.
"Really make sure you're doing testing and genetic sequencing to see if a genetic variant has come along and make sure you have lots of space in your hospitals.
"(So) your healthcare workers are free to do all the other jobs they need to do as well."
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