Denmark’s government is taking the drastic step of closing down all state schools and requiring public-sector employees besides emergency workers to stay home, as it struggles to contain the spread of the coronavirus.
“We’re in uncharted territory here,” Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at an emergency press briefing convened late on Wednesday. “We’ve never tried anything like this before.”
She spoke shortly after the number of confirmed cases in the Nordic country spiked to over 500, marking a 10-fold increase within the span of just three days. Two people were in a critical condition, Danish authorities said.