What are the UK rules on quarantine after July 19th?

UK residents returning to England on or after July 19th won’t have to quarantine if they were previously vaccinated by the UK National Health Service.

They’ll still need to take a pre-departure test before returning to England and a PCR test on or before day two after their arrival, however.

Non-UK residents arriving in the UK will still need to quarantine for 10 days. The UK government says it’s still working on plans to allow travellers vaccinated outside the UK to skip quarantine, but only when “it is safe to do so”.

Brits living in France must quarantine to see dying parents in the UK, while British tourists travel freely. The injustices of Brexit Britain’s covid travel restrictions. https://t.co/m6KYdZgcEX

— James Savage (@SavLocal) July 14, 2021

I live in the UK, was fully vaccinated here and want to go to Denmark. Can I do this without quarantine?

The short answer is… maybe.

The UK’s incoming lifting of restrictions on July 19th mean you will be able to return home from Denmark (classed by the UK as an amber country) after this date without quarantining, although you will still need to take tests prior to departure and on day 2 after your return, as per the UK government information page.

READ ALSO: ‘Fit to fly Covid tests’: What you need to know for travel from Denmark to the UK

You may still be encompassed by Denmark’s quarantine rules. This depends on where in the UK you are travelling from, and quite possibly also how the country’s infection rates develop in coming weeks.

Denmark classifies countries and regions around the world into four categories for Covid-19 travel restrictions: green, yellow, orange and red. The colour codes determine the rules that must be observed to enter Denmark, including those related to quarantine or isolation.

The colours of countries and regions are revised on a weekly basis, based on objective criteria and the health situation in the relevant locations.

The rules also depend on where you are travelling from and where you have spent the past 10 days – for example, you will have to follow the rules applicable to a red country if you have been in a red country in the last 10 days, even if you are arriving in Denmark directly from a green country.

Vaccinated people from green, yellow and orange countries and regions are not required to isolate after entry to Denmark under the current rules.

However, if you are arriving from a red country or region, you will have to isolate for up to 10 days even if vaccinated (and you will also need to present a negative Covid-19 test prior to boarding your flight and after entry to Denmark and may need to provide a worthy purpose for travel).

You can read more about the rules for each of the colour categories here and rules during isolation here.

The UK, which is currently seeing an increase in infection numbers driven by the Delta variant of Covid-19, is currently either red or orange, depending on region.

At the time of writing, the North West, North East and Yorkshire and The Humber regions, along with Scotland, are all classed as red by the Danish authorities.

East Midlands, West Midlands, East of England, London, South East and South West are orange, as are Wales and Northern Ireland.

If those colours remain the same after July 19th, vaccinated people from the latter parts of the UK will be able to travel to Denmark without quarantining on either leg of their trip. Those from the former areas will have to isolate on arrival in Denmark.

The colour coded list is updated weekly, so more of the UK could potentially become red before the UK’s rule change on July 19th. Hypothetically, the trend of infections could also improve, opening travel to Denmark for vaccinated people from more parts of the UK.

An official list of the countries which fall into each category is here. The list is usually updated on Fridays.

How do I prove I’m fully vaccinated as a foreign visitor to Denmark?

Danish residents returning to the country after travel abroad can use the country’s coronapas app to document their vaccination. Unfortunately for visitors, though, the coronapas system is currently only available to residents of Denmark with a CPR number.

While residents of other EU countries can use their European digital Covid certificates, tourists from the UK are not covered by this. 

The Danish government’s Covid guidance website, coronasmitte.dk, states that proof of vaccination can be used like the country’s coronapas. A few conditions must be satisfied: the vaccine must be approved by the European Medicines Agency (the Pfizer, Moderna, AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson vaccines all are).

Your documentation should state your name, date of birth, vaccine name and date of vaccination, including first and second doses for two dose vaccines.

You must be a resident of an OECD country to enter Denmark under rules for fully vaccinated people, and to be able to use the documentation from your country of residence. The UK is an OECD member state.

READ ALSO: What tourists need to know about Denmark’s coronapas system