Denmark took the European Union lead Tuesday by scrapping most pandemic restrictions as the Scandinavian country no longer considers COVID-19 “a socially critical disease.” European nations elsewhere had a patchwork of different approaches, with some relaxing virus measures while others tightened them. Officials say the reason for the Danish move is that while the omicron variant is surging in the country, it’s not placing a heavy burden on the health system and Denmark has a high vaccination rate. Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen told Danish radio it’s too early to know if virus restrictions ever have to make a comeback. “I dare not say that it is a final goodbye to restrictions,” she said. “We do not know what will happen in the fall, whether there will be a new variant.” Denmark, a nation of 5.8 million, has in recent weeks seen more than 50,000 new cases a day but the number of COVID-19 patients in hospital intensive care units has dropped. Some other nations were moving in the same direction as Denmark. Last week, England lifted almost all domestic restrictions: masks are not mandatory anywhere, vaccine passes are not required for any venue and people are no longer advised to work from home. The only legal requirement is to self-isolate after a positive COVID test. READ: US easing virus restrictions for foreign flights to America Ireland has dropped most of its restrictions and the Netherlands also has been easing its lockdown, although Dutch bars and restaurants still have to close at 10 p.m. France — which is still reporting the continent’s highest daily positive cases — plans on lifting some restrictions Wednesday, notably outdoor mask rules in Paris, a part-time work-from-home order and limits on crowd sizes. But face masks are still required indoor in many public places, nightclubs are closed and no eating or drinking is allowed in cinemas, stadiums or public transport. Finland will end its COVID-19 restrictions this month. On Monday, border controls between Finland and the other Schengen countries that form Europe’s ID check-free travel area, ended. Travelers coming from outside the EU will continue to face border controls at least until Feb. 14. In Serbia, there are hardly any controls, so the few rules in place — mandatory face masks in closed spaces, passes for bars, restaurants and nightclubs in the evening and only 500 people at events — don’t mean much. Nightclubs have been open all along. Italy, however, has been gradually tightening its health pass requirements during the omicron surge. As of Monday, Italy requires at least a negative test within the previous 48 hours to enter banks and post offices, and anyone over 50 who has not been vaccinated risks a one-time 100-euro ($112) fine. Austria has imposed a vaccine mandate that takes effect this month and Greece has ordered fines for people 60 and over who refuse to get vaccinated. Germany politicians, meanwhile, have opened a debate on whether to impose a national vaccination mandate. The head of the Danish Health Authority, Søren Brostrøm, told Danish broadcaster TV2 that his attention was on the number of people in ICUs rather than on the number of infections. He said that number had “fallen and fallen and is incredibly low.” The most visible restriction disappearing is the wearing of face masks, which are no longer mandatory on public transportation and shops. Authorities only recommend mask use in hospitals, health care facilities and nursing homes. Another restriction that no longer is required is the digital pass to enter nightclubs or eat indoors in restaurants. Stefano Tandmark, a Copenhagen waiter, said bars and eateries can stay open now till 5 a.m. “We can dance and yeah, just be yourself again and don’t worry about if corona is gone or where it is at the moment.” Still, many Danes took a cautious approach Monday, wearing face masks on public transport and in shops. Some noted that the omicron variant had led to staff shortages. “There’s a lot of our employees who are sick without the restrictions being lifted, and it’s going to be even worse now,” said Ulla Vestergaard, 59-year-old social care worker. Health authorities urged Danes to get tested regularly so the country can react quickly if necessary but also praised citizens for embracing vaccines. ″ A lot of people (in Denmark) have received two vaccination shots and a lot have received three doses as well, and many of those doses were provided in the fourth quarter of 2021,” Jens Lundgren, a professor of viral diseases at Copenhagen University Hospital told The Associated Press. More than 60% of Denmark’s population over age 12 have gotten a third vaccine shot.

Bangladesh logged 31 more Covid-related deaths, with 13,501 fresh cases in 24 hours till Monday morning. The daily positivity rate rose again to 29.77 from Sunday’s 28.33 per cent after testing 45,358 samples during the period, according to the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS). On Sunday, Bangladesh saw its highest in the last four months 34 deaths with 12,183 fresh cases. The country last reported 31 covid-related deaths on September 28 last with 1,310 cases, taking the positivity rate to 4.49%. On Friday, Bangladesh logged its earlier highest daily positivity rate at 33.37% reporting 15,440 cases and 20 deaths. The fresh numbers took the country’s total fatalities to 28,394 while the caseload mounted to 1,798,833. Read: Global Covid cases top 374 million amid Omicron spread Of the 140 deaths recorded from January 24 to January 30, some 22.1 per cent received Covid vaccines while 77.9 percent did not, the DGHS mentioned. Comorbidities among the deceased patients declined 4.4 per cent this week compared to the previous one. Comorbidity means the simultaneous presence of two or more diseases or medical conditions in a patient. Among the new deceased, 20 were men and 11 women. Sixteen deaths were reported in Dhaka division while five in Khulna, three each in Rangpur, Mymensingh, two in Chattogram, one each in Rajshahi, and Sylhet divisions. Meanwhile, the mortality rate further declined to 1.58 per cent. However, the recovery rate also declined to 87.18 per cent with the recovery of 2,568 more patients during the 24-hour period. Omicron Cases Bangladesh’s total tally of Omicron cases reached 69 with the detection of five more cases till January 23, according to GISAID, a global initiative on sharing all influenza data. On December 9 last year, Bangladesh again logged zero Covid-related death after nearly three weeks as the pandemic was apparently showing signs of easing. The country reported this year’s first zero Covid-related death in a single day on November 20 last year along with 178 infections since the pandemic broke out in Bangladesh in March 2020. Besides, the country registered the highest daily caseload of 16,230 on July 28 last year, while the highest number of daily fatalities was 264 on August 10 last year.

The global Covid caseload has now surged past 113 million, despite high rates of vaccination in several countries.

Covid-19 continues to rage around the world, despite high rates of vaccination. In fact, the global caseload has now surged past 112.5 million.

Bangladesh and India on Friday decided to further strengthen the ongoing coordination to jointly commemorate mega events and focused on preparations for the forthcoming visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to Bangladesh in March.

A special team from the Institute of Epidemiology, Disease Control and Research (IEDCR) on Tuesday noon arrived in Sylhet to test twenty-nine UK returnee expatriates who tested positive for coronavirus.

A sprawling quarantine center is more than 4,000 rooms is being thrown up in northern China in response to a COVID-19 outbreak in Shijiazhuang, a city of more than 10 million people in Hebei province.

More than 99 million people have been infected with Covid-19 across the world, according to Johns Hopkins University (JHU).

Health Minister Zahid Maleque on Monday said Bangladesh will receive the first consignment of Oxford-AstraZeneca's Covid-19 vaccine on January 25-26.

China eked out 2.3% economic growth in 2020, likely becoming the only major economy to expand as shops and factories reopened relatively early from a shutdown to fight the coronavirus while the United States, Japan and Europe struggled with disease flare-ups.