Last week in Denmark (22.05-29.05) Episode 21

Vaccination HQ

Status: 34,8% of the population has been vaccinated (2.033.923 people). 21% of the population has received the second vaccine shot (1.230.320 people). 

Corona infection status: There is an average of 1100 new infected people every day. 143 people are hospitalized. The five municipalities with the highest rate of infection are: Aalborg, Drag?r, Frederiksberg, Vallensb?k and K?benhavn. Check out more data here. 

Vaccination calendar: Find out here, when is your turn to receive the vaccine. The calendar has been updated on 10th of May. The vaccination campaign should be completed until 29th August. The focus for next week will be the age group 45-49 and 16-19 years old. 

Corona pass: From 28th May, you can download the app “Coronapas” (from Google Play or Apple Store). The app contains a QR code and a bar that turns green when the pass is valid. The app will work also outside Denmark. Read more here. 

Danish Politics HQ

Political quiz: How well do you know what happened in the previous week in Denmark? Take the quiz and find out. (It’s in Danish). 

Travel Reopening: The foreign ministry has released the weekly update (with the map in three colors - yellow, orange, red). 

Yellow (Europe): Romania, Poland, Bulgaria, Iceland, Malta, Finland, Portugal, Most of Norway (besides the regions of Agder, Telemark and Viken), 8 regions of Spain (Asturias, Balearic Islands, Ceuta, Extremadura, Galicia, Canary Islands, Murcia and Valencia), 3 regions of France (Mayotte, Martinique, Corsica), 3 regions of Austria (Burgenland, Salzburg, Lower Austria), 1 region of Germany (Schleswig-Holstein) and 6 regions of Italy (Sardinia, Venezia, Molise, Umbria, Abruzzo, Liguria).

Yellow (World): Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Israel. 

Red: Nepal, Bangladesh, Botswana, Brazil, Eswatini, India, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe, as well as the region of La Réunion, an overseas French territory. 

Maternity rules: The support parties of the government (Enhedslisten, Radikale Venstre, SF) are currently negotiating with the government new rules regarding maternity leave. At the moment, there are 4 weeks (Pregnancy leave) / 14 weeks (Maternity leave) / 32 weeks (Parenting leave) / 2 weeks (Fatherhood leave). The parties want to reduce the parenting leave to 20 weeks and increase the fatherhood leave to 14 weeks. 

Maternity wards: The current conflict between the nurses and the regional governments (regarding salaries) is going to affect the maternity wards this summer. 1,100 midwives (out of 3000 in total) refuse to accept new tasks before they get better salaries. 

Medical cannabis: A broad majority in the Danish Parliament has decided to extend the trial scheme with medical cannabis for another four years. This gives the possibility for doctors to continue prescribing to patients. Read more here. 

Greenlandic experiment: In 1951, 22 Greenlandic children came to Denmark as part of an upbringing experiment, in which they had to renounce their identity to become Danish. Why? To become the Danish-speaking elite of Greenland. Now, the 22 are looking for justice. The Danish government issued an apology to them in December last year. However, there is no settlement in sight, at least not outside the justice courts. Read more here. 

Expansion of Danish kingdom: Norway, Iceland, Faroe Islands and Denmark negotiated a new maritime border. The borders of the Danish kingdom have been expanded with 27,000 square kilometers (half of Denmark) north of the Faroe Islands. Read more here. 

Pirates: The Danish Parliament decided to send a frigate (with 175 soldiers) to hunt pirates in the Gulf of Guinea. Also, 60 special forces soldiers will be sent to Sahel (North Africa) to fight terrorists (Operation Barkhane). 

Zero-emission zones: The government will allow municipalities to introduce zero-emission zones, where diesel and petrol cars cannot enter and old stoves (produced before 2008) are banned. The people with low income and a diesel car, will receive a 2,000 dkk subsidy to install a special filter on their cars. 4,600 people die prematurely because of air pollution in Denmark. 

Danish Economy HQ

Long term unemployed: 15.000 more long-term unemployed since the pandemic started. People that couldn’t find a job for more than a year. To help them, the government decided to spend 160 million dkk on different initiatives. Higher “l?ntilskud” for companies that hire long-term unemployed over the age of 50. More job-oriented courses. Possibility to be longer in “vikariat”. Read more here. 

Rural housing: The government has established a guarantee, to make it easier for people that want to buy a house in the rural area, far away from the cities. The guarantee will allow banks to be more lenient when they give out mortgage loans. Read more here. 

Housing market: The National Bank of Denmark is worried about the financial stability of the housing market, as the prices continue to increase. Read more here. 

State of the economy: The finance ministry released the 2021 financial outlook of Denmark. The report announces that in 2022, Denmark will experience the highest economic growth in 15 years. 46,000 new jobs will be created. 

Daily Life in Denmark HQ

For parents: Bloggers and influencers that have completed a workshop on children's rights, will receive a graphic stamp “All Right” from UNICEF Denmark. In this way, parents can curate easier content to allow for their children to see. 

Parents in the hospital: From 15th June, in the Central Jutland Region, both parents that stay with their sick child in the hospital, will receive free food and drinks.

VR vs. Loneliness: Herning municipality uses virtual reality to fight loneliness among the senior citizens. They arrange virtual tours, where they can experience the world. The participants can talk together during the tours. The municipality hopes to create virtual communities for seniors that rarely go outside the house. 

Golden Laurels: The author Stine Pilgaard received the Golden Laurels from the Danish bookstores for the novel “Meter i sekundet”. The novel is about a young woman who moves to West Jutland and has to adapt to the high school life there. 

The World in 2021 HQ

World Health Organization: The objective is to vaccinate at least 10% of the world population until September. However, the overall situation is not looking great. Africa has only 1,58% of the people vaccinated, while Asia barely reached 5%. The situation in Europe looks better as 35% of the people are vaccinated. 

World Health Organization (2): French President, Emmanuel Macron and the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel want to increase the budget of WHO and give the organization the power to visit countries quicker in case of outbreaks of disease that can turn into pandemics. There is demand for an international treaty aimed at preventing pandemics. 

EU vs. Belarus: The dictator of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, became the first “air pirate” in Europe, after he forced a civilian plane (Ryanair) going from Athens to Vilnius to land in Minsk. He stopped the plane in order to capture a Belarusian blogger that was on board. European Union responded to the act of aggression by closing the European airspace to the Belarusian civil planes and preparing economic sanctions. Read more here. 

Etiopia: Famine in the region of Tigray, as a consequence of the military operation launched by the government in the area. 

Namibia: 1.1 billion euro from Germany as “apology payment” for the genocide in 1904-1908. Namibia (Africa) used to be a German colony. Read more here. 

Rwanda: France apologies for the role they played in the 1994 genocide. Read more here. 

United States: The Qanon conspiracy theory is now as popular as several major religions in the United States. Almost 50 million people believe that “the state, the media and the financial sector in the United States are controlled by a group of satan-worshipping pedophiles”. Read more here. 

European Union HQ

Conference on the Future of Europe: the conference will run until the spring of 2022, when the conclusions of the event will become guidelines for the development of the Union. It will contain the future that the majority wants, whatever that might be. Access the hub of the Conference, which is a multilingual digital platform, and submit your ideas, discuss other people’s ideas, find events related to the Conference or even guidelines on how to organize your own event.

Eurovision: The winner was Italy with the song "Zitti e buoni", performed by M?neskin. This was Italy's third victory in the contest, following their wins in 1964 and 1990, and making them only the second member of the "Big Five" to win the contest since Germany in 2010. France, Switzerland, Iceland and Ukraine rounded out the top five, with France and Switzerland achieving their best results since 1991 and 1993 respectively. Read more here. 

Malta: 70% of the population has been vaccinated, becoming the first EU state to achieve “herd immunity”. Read more here. 

Belgium: The government decided to suspend the use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine for people under 41 years old, because a woman died of serious side effects after receiving it. Read more here. 

Netherlands: The oil company, Shell, has to reduce their greenhouse emissions by 45% until 2030, after they lost a court case in Hague. Initially, the company pledged a 20% reduction. This didn’t stop the 17,000 Dutch citizens and seven environment organizations from suing the company. This is a groundbreaking ruling, in which citizens managed to force a private company to act in a certain way. 

Artist of the Week 

Vanessa Ribeiro is a designer and storyteller from Portugal. She arrived in Denmark 4 years ago and graduated in Digital Concept Development at UCN. 

In Aalborg, Vanessa exhibited the works “Ancient Shine”, a collection of Egyptian themed paintings focused on human emotions. Her works could be seen in the Staircase Artwork Program, StartUp Works exhibit and The Traffic Light of Emotions exhibit at 1000 Fryd.

She’s been a freelance artist since 2008, has collaborated with Portuguese Children’s books authors and published numerous graphic novels (comics) in the Portuguese and the American market, with a “Japanese comic” style known as manga. Furthermore, she took part in two successful Kickstarters from 2019 to 2020, as the main comic artist.

On 6th July, Vanessa (MitsuBlinger) will launch a new kickstarter campaign. A spin-off book from the previous series she collaborated on. Pure intent explores neo-daoist ideals and looks into how even the purest of intentions can blind us to the most nightmarish of actions.

Until next week...

Monday: A unique work-life balance environment! Denmark has managed to build a professional business environment within a globally recognized social welfare safety net.

Tuesday: “It’s about that time in your life when your friends are your family.” – David Crane, the co-creator of Friends who, by the way, had a reunion special. It launched on HBO GO on the 27th of May.

Wednesday: Summer holiday (sommerferie) is an ideal time for high school students to explore creative and enriching pursuits. Whether choosing to enroll in a summer course, volunteer, gain work experience, or enjoy much-needed downtime, the focus should be on organizing a personalized and meaningful break.

Thursday: “There’s a 40% chance that the world will get so hot in the next five years that it will temporarily push past the temperature limit the Paris climate agreement is trying to prevent, meteorologists said.”

Friday: Located in the southern part of the Limfjord in Central Denmark, the island of Fur offers a quiet escape for nature lovers looking for beautiful views, craft beers, fossil hunting, and more.

Saturday: This week’s app suggestion is for people with children. Natureventyr is perfect for an outdoors exploration for you and your child. Some content is paid, but a lot of it is free of charge. It offers useful info, maps and an imaginary setting that is just right for your kid.

See you on Sunday!

Newsletter team

Curator: Narcis George Matache / Proofreader: Monika Elend (English/Polish)

Marketing & Distribution: Cristian Pa?cal?u (Marketing), Andreea Bianca Buza (Graphics), Lucian Pal (Distribution)

Romanian-version team: Diana Popa, Delia-Claudia Sima, Oana Elena T?nase

Polish-version team: Pawel Kubulus, Kajetan Domski. Miguel Oliveira (Distribution)

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Our partners: International House North Denmark