As expected, the nationwide restrictions were extended when the Danish prime minister (and others) held a press conference last Thursday. The new British variant, B.117, and delays in the delivery of vaccines have created fears that the healthcare system could come under severe pressure.

Therefore, a reopening of hairdressers, shopping centres, DIY stores etc is not likely until March at the earliest. It will probably take even longer before arts and culture institutions are reopened and it is possible to travel abroad again. The only bright spot was that Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said she hoped that the youngest pupils could return to school again soon (and they will next week).

The government thus seems to follow the recommendations of the healthcare experts to gradually reopen the economy in a predefined order, starting with the youngest school children and ending with bars and nightclubs.

From a healthcare perspective, the prioritisation is probably reasonable. But it is costly to extend the lockdown. Both economically, mentally and socially. Because there is no doubt that people are getting fed up with the coronavirus restrictions.

The violent Men in Black demonstrations are a clear example of how the social cohesion is being challenged, but what we should worry even more about is the well-being of children and young people who are clearly struggling during these hard times. The after-effects of their being forced to stay home are still not known.

From an economic point of view, however, there are grounds for optimism. Perhaps not right here and now when so many areas of society are practically locked in permafrost. But economic spring is on the horizon.

Based on the experience from last year when the world economy staged a super strong comeback immediately after the reopening, we see no reason to doubt that the same thing will happen again this year. And with the roll-out of effective COVID-19 vaccines there is hope that we can finally put the pandemic behind us and actually embark on a normalisation of everyday life.

Besides the good news on the vaccine front, other significant risks overshadowing the growth outlook have been eliminated. Firstly, the multi-year Brexit soap opera ended as best it could with the free trade agreement between the EU and the UK.

Secondly, the dramatic US election resulted in a real political regime change as the Democrats won the presidency as well as a majority in both chambers of Congress. The result gives incoming president Joe Biden great power in domestic and foreign policy. And even though the new administration will continue the harsh rhetoric against for instance China, it will take a far more open approach towards the rest of the world and especially its allies than that adopted by Donald Trump with his America First policy.

Against this background we should see robust global economic growth this year after the huge setback last year.

Add to this that economic policy globally will remain highly accommodative for a long while yet. One lesson from the financial crisis was that if you tighten economic policy too quickly, you risk triggering new and severe setbacks. Such setbacks must be avoided during the coronavirus crisis, and therefore the state coffers will remain wide open.

However, I would warn against allowing them to become bottomless. Over the past years the indebtedness of many countries has risen sharply. The high debt level is manageable as long as interest rates are close to or below zero and central banks are revving their printing presses. But exceptional monetary policy measures should only be maintained in extraordinary times.

At some point the level of interest rates must be normalised, either because inflation has gone up or to provide room for manoeuvre to handle future slowdowns. And then there is a risk that new debt crises could suddenly emerge.