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Denmark advises against all non-essential travel to UK and Ireland

The United Kingdom and Ireland have been added to the list of countries to which Denmark is advising against all non-essential travel.

Published: 24 September 2020 16:26 CEST
Denmark advises against all non-essential travel to UK and Ireland
A Ryanair aircraft on landing approach at Dublin Airport. File photo: Clodagh Kilcoyne/Ritzau Scanpix

Editor's note: the UK has now reinstated its quarantine requirement for travellers arriving from Denmark. Read here for more information.

The advisories were confirmed by the Danish foreign ministry as it updated its current travel guidelines on Thursday.

Danish authorities advise against non-essential travel when the rate of Covid-19 infections exceeds 30 new cases per 100,000 residents per week. 

The UK and Ireland are both now in excess of that figure according to figures from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, the EU agency monitoring the data.

The number of countries to which the Danish foreign ministry advises against travel has increased as the coronavirus resurges across Europe. Last week, the ministry advised against all non-essential travel to Switzerland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Austria.

Non-essential travel also already advised against for Andorra, Belgium, France, Croatia, Iceland, Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco, Romania, Slovenia, Spain, Czech Republic, and Hungary. The advisories are not legally binding but Danish tourists' consumer rights are voided if they are not followed.

In addition to these countries, Denmark also currently advises against travel to Estonia, Finland, Latvia and Lithuania because of restrictions such as quarantine placed by these countries on arrivals from Denmark.

People who live in countries to which Denmark advises against travel are required to provide a so-called “worthy” (anerkendelsesværdigt) reason for entering Denmark. This can include work or family reasons but not tourism. Detailed guidance can be found on the Danish police website. For the UK and Ireland, as well as Iceland and Slovenia, these rules take effect from Saturday September 26th.

After returning home from a country to which the foreign ministry advises against non-essential travel, Danish residents are asked to home quarantine for 14 days. The isolation can be ended earlier if you test negative for Covid-19 after returning to Denmark.

The model for travel guidelines for EU and Schengen countries asks travellers to get tested after returning from a region where the number of infections has increased to 50 or more new infections per 100,000 inhabitants in the last week.

The travel guidelines published by the Danish foreign ministry are primarily aimed at Danish tourists. Business travel can be deemed ‘essential', meaning travel to a country on Denmark's ‘banned' list for business purposes is not necessarily advised against.

Individual companies and employees can “assess whether a business trip is a necessary trip”, the ministry wrote in a statement published last week.

“We encourage companies and their employees to follow the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' special travel advice for business travel and stay up to date on local travel restrictions on the relevant embassy website,” it adds.

Denmark also advises against all non-essential travel to non-EU or Schengen area European countries and to the rest of the world. The only current exception to this, Tunisia, is set to be removed as of September 28th, when Tunisian restrictions on incoming travellers come into effect.

The foreign ministry list of recommended travel destinations is updated weekly at 4pm on Thursdays.

In addition to the number of infections, Danish authorities also look at testing and the percentage of tests which are positive. A maximum of five percent of those tested may test positive.

READ ALSO: Freelancers to get Covid-19 child sick pay under new Danish scheme

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

READ ALSO: 

People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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