Denmark significantly easing travel restrictions

The focus shifts to unvaccinated travelers and emerging variants

A majority of the parties in the Danish parliament reached an agreement Tuesday evening to significantly ease all remaining COVID-related travel restrictions as of this weekend.

Foreign Affairs Minister Jeppe Kofod:

“Today we reached a milestone in our handling of the COVID pandemic, where we now normalize travel rules. We go back to the well-known travel guide that Danes know from before the pandemic began. This is possible because the vast majority of Danes are now vaccinated. I have been impressed by the Danes' patience and willingness to cooperate, just as I would like to thank the entire Danish travel industry, which has been in an almost impossible situation. ”

The agreement states that based on most of the Danish population being vaccinated and a “generally satisfactory” vaccination roll-out in the EU the focus now shifts to travelers who are either unvaccinated and/or who have not been previously infected. The other focus of this new, more relaxed regime will be on “possibly worrying virus variants.” The agreement also stipulates that COVID travel restrictions can be quickly reinstated if need be.

Changes come into effect this weekend include:

• All entry restrictions for the E.U. and Schengen area, the colour-coded COVID risk travel map, requirement for testing before and after travel, and intensified police presence at the border are all abolished.

• For travelers coming from outside the European Union, the requirement for a recognizable purpose to enter Denmark and the requirement for pre-travel testing is also scrapped.

• Current restrictions on cruise ships and their passengers will be lifted.

As of this Friday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' travel guides will return to normal, removing colour-coded country-by-country COVID risk assessments. They will instead assess traveler safety country to country based on pre-pandemic criteria such as terrorism, war, civil unrest, and other safety risks.

It is also worth noting that all current exemptions for children remain in place. Free COVID testing will also continue at both airports in Copenhagen and Billund “as long as there is demand.”

An “emergency brake” process allowing for COVID travel restrictions to be swiftly put in place for a country where a “worrying virus variant” has been identified will also remain in place. If activated it would mean the country in question would be deemed high-risk requiring a PCR only COVID test prior to entry, a recognizable purpose for entry, and testing and quarantine after arriving in Denmark.

Here is how travel will work after this weekend:

Fully Vaccinated Travelers

For fully vaccinated travelers in and outside of Denmark, travel in and out of the country returns to pre-pandemic normal. The big caveat is that while Denmark relaxes travel and entry rules, other countries have not. Danish travelers will still have to do their due diligence about entry restrictions and rules at the country; they are going to.

The other potential problem for some travelers is who Denmark considers to be fully vaccinated. According to the agreement a fully vaccinated person is someone “who are vaccinated in EU and Schengen countries, OECD countries, risk countries (ie countries on the EU positive list) and countries that are regularly associated with the EU digital covid certificate and who have been vaccinated with a vaccine recognized for entry purposes, may enter restrictions free.”

On the surface, this seems to exclude assessing people as being fully vaccinated who have had two doses of a vaccine not included in the above definition, like the Russian Sputnik vaccine, for example.

Unvaccinated Travelers

For anyone within the EU and Schengen area who has not been vaccinated or who has not had a recent previous infection a single uniform entry restriction will be in place after October 15. They will be required to take a COVID test no more than 24 hours after arriving in Denmark. This includes Danish citizens and permanent residents.

Unvaccinated travelers from outside the European Union or who are coming from a country deemed a COVID high-risk, they too will also have to take a coronavirus test no more than 24 hours after arriving in Denmark. But they have an added quarantine mandate.

Cruise Ship Passengers

While current COVID restrictions will end for the cruise ship industry, as of this weekend, a new regime is being put in place. Cruise ship passengers will have to be fully vaccinated or have a recent negative COVID test prior to first boarding their ship. If there are coronavirus infections onboard the vessel, all unvaccinated passengers must get tested again prior to landing in Denmark. If the ship has a major COVID outbreak, all crew and passengers are banned from disembarking at any Danish port. The Danish Agency for Patient Safety must be notified and it will then determine a course of action.

Health Minister Magnus Heunicke:

“After a year and a half, where COVID has decided where we could travel and who could visit Denmark, we are now returning to far more normal conditions. It is first and foremost the Danes' merits that have largely agreed to vaccination and given us good control of the epidemic. If epidemic control is threatened by worrying variants abroad, we are ready to respond.”

You can read the agreement in full (in Danish) HERE.