COPENHAGEN, May 7 (Xinhua) -- Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen announced on Thursday the plan for the second phase of re-opening in the country at a press conference at Marienborg, her official residence.
The agreement was reached after intense negotiations between the government and other parliamentary parties.
"Thanks to a joint, impressively great effort, we are one of the countries that can now start to open up more," said Frederiksen.
According to the agreement, restaurants and cafes, retail shops and malls are allowed to reopen from Monday, May 11.
Schools for the students in the 6th to 10th grade as well as boarding schools will start gradually to reopen from May 18.
Libraries, the national church and other religious communities will also reopen from May 18.
Examinations requiring physical attendance will resume from May 18.
All the professional sports may reopen immediately with the proviso that no more than 10 people participate, while safari parks may reopen as soon as health guidelines are in place.
"On the whole, nothing will be as it was before. The restaurant is not going to look like itself. Neither does the school class, nor professional football, because there will be no spectators for the matches," said Frederiksen.
All re-openings depend on following government health guidelines.
The agreement was reached after the Statens Serum Institut (SSI), the national health and research institution, published in a report on Wednesday, which assured politicians that it was possible to open up a large part of Danish society without significantly increasing the number of hospitalized and intensive care patients infected with COVID-19.
"The situation is still serious. What we do now depends on a joint effort. We must live up to the guidelines," said Frederiksen, warning that the number of people infected with COVID-19 would increase in connection with the second phase of re-opening.
The latest SSI figures released Thursday showed that the number of confirmed COVID-19 cases in Denmark stands at 10,083, with a death toll of 514. Enditem
