Kiwi expats on how no-restriction Denmark is facing Omicron

Kiwi expats living in Denmark have shared their experiences of a country without any restrictions despite tens of thousands of new cases a day.

The Scandinavian country was one of the first in Europe to remove all Covid restrictions with more than 80 per cent of its five-plus population double jabbed and 60 per cent boosted.

Pie baker and former Aucklander Stu Thrush is happy with the way that the Danish government has managed the presence of Covid in the community.

“They've taken a flexible approach and they’ve really just waited for the numbers to change before they made changes to society,” Thrush said.

Kiwi writer Keri Bloomfield said she felt the country had turned a corner.

“There's hope in the air, it really feels like we've turned a corner. It's been a strange couple of years, everyone's worked hard to do their part and I can see there's light at the end of the tunnel,” the former Wellingtonian said.

Bloomfield said school children testing positive was a relatively normal occurrence, while schools remained open through the Omicron wave.

“On a daily basis we have messages, I just had one today that there's another child in the class who has had corona. It is just another accepted part of the day now where we're aware of it,” Bloomfield said.

Both said they felt like Danish society responded well to public health advice when the nation had faced its earlier nationwide waves of the virus.

“Danes are very compliant - we will kick up a fuss if need be - but when push comes to shove we will try our best to look out for the rest of the community,” Thrush said.

One health expert said building trust with the public was key.

Professor Flemming Konradsen of Copenhagen University said Danish politics had more closely followed public health advice than in other European nations.

“All political parties have respected that from a public health perspective it makes a lot of sense to be immunised, it makes a lot of sense to wear a face mask, so on and so forth.”

Meanwhile, other countries like Bulgaria and Spain have faced loud protests and angry opposition to public health initiatives like vaccination and masking requirements.