Denmark will reopen schools for children next week – UPDATED

COPENHAGEN, Feb 1 (Reuters) – Denmark will take the first step towards easing its coronavirus lockdown next week, reopening schools for the youngest children, the Nordic country’s government said on Monday.

Denmark, in a tough coronavirus lockdown since December, saw a decline in new coronavirus infections and hospitalizations in January after a drastic increase in the previous month.

Schools will reopen for children in 1st to 4th grade starting next Monday, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke told a news briefing.

“This is a small, careful and controlled reopening,” the minister said.

He warned that the number of people infected with the more contagious virus variant first identified in Britain, which has now spread across Europe and elsewhere, is still on the rise in Denmark.

“We can only do this (reopening) if we keep activity in the rest of society to a minimum,” Heunicke said. (Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Catherine Evans and Jonathan Oatis)