Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen declared that all Danish schools, universities, and kindergartens will be shut for two weeks to slow the spread of the bug.

Tough new measures will also include banning indoor events with 100 or more participants, and sending non-critical public sector employees home.

Private sector workers will also be encouraged to work from home, after the Danish Patient Safety Authority reported 442 new cases this week. The country now has 617 confirmed cases.

The urgent action follows the World Health Organization's designation of coronavirus as a pandemic, as it blasted 'inactive' governments for fueling the crisis.

In a press conference yesterday, Ms Frederiksen said: 'This will have huge consequences, but the alternative would be far worse.

'Under normal circumstances, a government would not present such far-reaching measures without having all the solutions ready for the many Danes concerned.

'But we are in an extraordinary situation.'

According to The Local, the Prime Minister added: 'We will not get through this as a country without a cost. Businesses will close. Some will lose their jobs.

'We will do what we can to mitigate the consequences for employees.'

Søren Brostrøm, director of the The Danish Health Authority, called the disease 'not only a threat for Denmark, but for the whole world'.

The Danish Government previously announced that it would shift its coronavirus strategy from 'containment' to 'delay' as the number of cases rose.

The move signalled the new effort to divert resources from preventing the infection coming to Denmark to slowing down its spread domestically.

It comes as the WHO blamed 'alarming levels of inaction' by governments across the planet for fueling the escalating coronavirus crisis.