Kaukab Tahir Shairani
August 11th, 2020

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Most affected industries include the hotel and restaurant sector (photo: Pixabay)

According to new figures from Danmarks Statistik, 1,295 jobs were lost in July – a whopping 84 percent increase compared to the month before.

The development was reported in the aftermath of a surge in coronavirus bankruptcries. Allan Sørensen, chief economist at the confederation for industry, Dansk Industri, said that while bankruptcies traditionally hit small businesses, the COVID-19 pandemic is having a broader effect.

“A bankruptcy is always sad for those affected. But the more established the companies are, the more people are impacted. Larger companies typically also have subcontractors and customers who are affected,” Sørensen told DR Nyheder.

READ ALSO: Copenhagen hit hardest by unemployment crisis

Most affected businesses
The entities most affected include the charter airline Jet Time and the hotels Bertrams Guldsmedenn and First Hotel. Other sectors hit hard include restaurants.

Kristian Skriver, a senior economist at the Danish chamber of commerce, Dansk Erhverv, predicted that hotels and restaurants will continue to be impacted throughout the autumn.

“Especially in Copenhagen, fewer rooms than usual have been booked,” Skriver told DR Nyheder.

“Trends have shown that it takes few months from the time the company experiences a decline in turnover until inching towards bankruptcy.”

Overall, 178 companies went bankrupt in June, which remained largely unchanged in July when 179 companies went bust.

SAS hit by a storm of complaints
Scores of customers lodged complaints against leading Scandinavian airline SAS after it was found to have reimbursed only a fraction of the cost of airline tickets in many cases. In addition, customers claimed that they had lost thousands of kroner due to cancelled flights in the wake of travel restrictions caused by the pandemic. The airline maintains that customers had cancelled the tickets before SAS itself cancelled the flight.

Pharmaceutical industry remains stable
The pharmaceutical industry in Denmark has remained largely stable despite the economic hit caused by the pandemic, said a chief economist. Pharma giant Novo Nordisk benefited from higher sales in the first half of the year when customers overstocked on medicine due to the coronavirus. During the second quarter, sales grew by double-digit percentages.

Matas discontinues sales of ‘eskimo’ fish oil
Due to the use of the word ‘eskimo’ in a Matas fish oil attracting criticism, the chemist chain has decided to suspend sales of the product. Klaus Fridorf, head of communications at Matas, said that several customers found the ‘Eskimo-3’ fish oil, prompting the chain to pull it from its shelves. Following the criticism, Matas made the producer of Eskimo-3 aware of the matter and requested to take a stand on the product’s name.

Novo Nordisk Foundation provides aid to Beirut
The Novo Nordisk Foundation has granted 1 million kroner to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) following a deadly explosion in Lebanon’s capital city of Beirut. The emergency aid is meant to assist the thousands of victims, including Syrian refugees residing in Lebanon. The blast that went off the previous week has killed at least 220 people and injured thousands more.