COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Denmark should not reopen further as it battles to contain the coronavirus outbreak, its state epidemiologist was quoted saying on Tuesday by Danish technology journal Ingenioeren.

“It is not something that I can recommend from a healthcare perspective that you go ahead with,” Kare Molbak, director of the State Serum Institute, told the journal.

Denmark, which has had 577 coronavirus-related deaths, was the first in Europe to relax its lockdown in April after seeing infection rates steadily decline, but the number of weekly infections has risen in the past couple of weeks.

Last week 494 Danes tested positive, up from 246 the week before, according to data from the Institute.

Molbak, who said in May a second wave of coronavirus was “very unlikely”, replied “Yes” when asked whether Denmark should halt the reopening, Ingenioeren reported.

“There is a great deal of risk associated with it, and whether you want to run that risk from a political side, that is a political decision,” he said.

The government and parliament are due to begin discussing the fourth phase of reopening, which includes music venues and nightclubs, on Aug. 12.