COPENHAGEN (Reuters) – Denmark registered the more contagious coronavirus variant B.1.1.7, first detected in Britain, in close to half of all positive tests in the second week of February, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke said on Tuesday.
Even though general infection numbers have declined in Denmark, the British variant is spreading. Its reproductive number, which indicates how many people could be infected with the virus by one person, was 1.25, Heunicke said on Twitter.
Up from just 3.7% in the first week of the year, the British variant appeared in 45% of all new positive tests analyzed for their genetic material in the second week of February, he said.
(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard and Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
