COPENHAGEN, Dec. 10 (Xinhua) -- Denmark's Minister for Health and Elderly Affairs Magnus Heunicke announced on Thursday an extension of the country's partial lockdown measures to include a further 31 municipalities as of 4 p.m. local time on Friday.
At a press conference, he also reported a new daily record of 3,132 coronavirus cases, which was a major spike after Wednesday's record of 2,558 daily cases.
"It's going too fast now," commented Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen. She was in Brussels on Thursday to attend a summit meeting of the European Union (EU) member states' leaders.
To date, Denmark has reported 100,489 COVID-19 cases and 918 deaths, according to the Statens Serum Institut, a government-funded public health and research institute under the Ministry of Health.
"The message is clear," Heunicke noted. "The infection rate must go down, and we will not hesitate to introduce restrictions in more municipalities or introduce more restrictions if necessary."
In total, 69 municipalities, home to 79 percent of the country's population, will now be affected by the closure of restaurants, theaters, public venues, museums, cinemas and libraries. Students from fifth grade upwards will be sent home and all non-essential public employees will be required to work from home.
"We expect the infection rate to increase further in the coming days," Heunicke said.
On Wednesday, partial closures took effect in 38 municipalities, including Aarhus, Odense and 36 municipalities in the Copenhagen metropolitan area.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, countries including France, Germany, China, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States are racing to find a vaccine.
According to the website of the World Health Organization, as of Dec. 8, there were 214 COVID-19 candidate vaccines being developed worldwide, and 52 of them were in clinical trials. Enditem
