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Denmark will end virus restrictions next week and reclassify Covid-19 as a disease that no longer poses a threat to society, even as infections hit a record high. The Nordic country won’t extend the pandemic measures beyond Jan. 31, Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said Wednesday. Denmark’s decision on reclassifying the virus dramatically pushes forward an idea that’s emerged recently in Europe -- that it’s time to start thinking about Covid as endemic rather than a pandemic. However, World Health Organization experts have warned against complacency. (Buttler, 1/26)

Most coronavirus restrictions including mandatory face masks were lifted in England on Thursday, after Britain’s government said its vaccine booster rollout successfully reduced serious illness and COVID-19 hospitalizations. From Thursday, face coverings are no longer required by law anywhere in England, and a legal requirement for COVID passes for entry into nightclubs and other large venues has been scrapped. (Hui, 1/27)

Black adults and other minorities in the U.K. suffered disproportionately from Covid-19 last year, a new study showed, highlighting inequities in the country’s vaccination program. Lagging vaccination rates among Britons of Black African and Caribbean ethnicity were the main reason that the minorities were two to three times more likely to die from the virus as White people, according to the Office of National Statistics report, which was released Wednesday. (Konotey-Ahulu, 1/26)

The White House today confirmed the United States has donated 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses—toward a goal of 1.1 billion—to low-income countries via COVAX, the global vaccine sharing program. Jeff Zients, the White House COVID-19 pandemic response coordinator, said the United States has donated more to COVAX than any country in the world, and the latest shipments would head out tomorrow to both Pakistan and Bangladesh. (Soucheray, 1/26)

As coronavirus cases and hospitalizations driven by the omicron variant slowly recede in the United States, public health experts are warning that global vaccine disparities could threaten progress toward ending the pandemic. “Vaccine equity is absolutely critical,” Maria Van Kerkhove, the World Health Organization’s covid-19 technical chief, said in a Q&A session on Tuesday. “The fact remains that more than 3 billion people haven’t received their first dose yet, so we have a long way to go.” (Cheng and Suliman, 1/26)

Six people who were children living in Fukushima at the time of the 2011 nuclear disaster and have since developed thyroid cancer filed a lawsuit Thursday demanding a utility pay compensation for their illnesses, which they say were triggered by massive radiation spewed from the Fukushima nuclear plant. The people, now aged 17-27 and living in and outside of Fukushima, demand the Tokyo Electric Power Company Holdings pay a total of 616 million yen ($5.4 million) in compensation. (Yamaguchi, 1/27)

Pope Francis on Wednesday called on parents around the world to not condemn children if they are gay.  Francis made the comments while speaking about the biblical figure Joseph during his weekly general audience. He addressed parents facing difficult situations in the lives of their children, such as kids who are sick, imprisoned or killed in car accidents.  But he also addressed parents "who see that their children have different sexual orientations, how they manage that and accompany their children and not hide behind a condemning attitude.” “Never condemn a child,” he said. (Pitofsky, 1/26)