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Travel update: Denmark changes Sweden to yellow in latest guidelines

In a new update to Covid-19 travel guidelines announced on Friday, Denmark’s foreign ministry switched the South and West Sweden region from green to yellow.

Published: 3 September 2021 16:51 CEST

The decision means that all of Sweden is now classed as yellow in Denmark’s travel advice.

Increasing infection rates in the two areas of Sweden, which include cities Malmö, Helsingborg, Lund and Gothenburg, were cited by the ministry as the reason for the decision.

That the region and thereby Sweden as a whole is now classed yellow has some consequences for non-vaccinated travellers who have also not been previously infected with Covid-19.

The main difference between travelling to Denmark from a yellow country is that Danish residents who are not vaccinated or immune through previous infection (and must therefore take a Covid-19 test before travel) are required to get a test after entry.

Non-Danish citizens or residents are required to show a negative coronavirus test at border control.

Those arriving by air can get a rapid antigen test for free at the airport between the arrival gate and border control. The Danish foreign ministry also advises taking a PCR test after returning to Denmark.

Other changes to the travel guidelines include Croatia switching from green to yellow, with the exception of the Sjeverna Hrvatska region.

The following regions around Europe also move from green to yellow:

Niederösterreich (Austria), Bolzano (Italy), Innlandet, Agder and Trøndelag (Norway).

Spain’s Asturia region meanwhile changes from yellow to green.

The new guidelines come into effect at 4pm on Saturday.

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Italy’s schools warned to ‘avoid gatherings’ as Covid cases rise

Pupils returned to school in many parts of Italy on Monday and authorities said they were distributing masks and hand sanitiser amid a post-summer increase in the number of recorded cases of Covid–19.

“The advice coming from principals, teachers and janitors is to avoid gatherings of students, especially in these first days of school,” Mario Rusconi, head of Italy’s Principals’ Association, told Rai news on Monday.

He added that local authorities in many areas were distributing masks and hand sanitizer to schools who had requested them.

“The use of personal protective equipment is recommended for teachers and students who are vulnerable,” he said, confirming that “use is not mandatory.”

A previous requirement for students to wear masks in the classroom was scrapped at the beginning of the last academic year.

Walter Ricciardi, former president of the Higher Health Institute (ISS), told Italy’s La Stampa newspaper on Monday that the return to school brings the risk of increased Covid infections.

Ricciardi described the health ministry’s current guidelines for schools as “insufficient” and said they were “based on politics rather than scientific criteria.”

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Recorded cases of Covid have increased in most Italian regions over the past three weeks, along with rates of hospitalisation and admittance to intensive care, as much of the country returns to school and work following the summer holidays.

Altogether, Italy recorded 21,309 new cases in the last week, an increase of 44 percent compared to the 14,863 seen the week before.

While the World Health Organisation said in May that Covid was no longer a “global health emergency,” and doctors say currently circulating strains of the virus in Italy are not a cause for alarm, there are concerns about the impact on elderly and clinically vulnerable people with Italy’s autumn Covid booster campaign yet to begin.

“We have new variants that we are monitoring but none seem more worrying than usual,” stated Fabrizio Maggi, director of the Virology and Biosafety Laboratories Unit of the Lazzaro Spallanzani Institute for Infectious Diseases in Rome

He said “vaccination coverage and hybrid immunity can only translate into a milder disease in young and healthy people,” but added that “vaccinating the elderly and vulnerable continues to be important.”

Updated vaccines protecting against both flu and Covid are expected to arrive in Italy at the beginning of October, and the vaccination campaign will begin at the end of October, Rai reported.

Amid the increase in new cases, Italy’s health ministry last week issued a circular mandating Covid testing on arrival at hospital for patients with symptoms.

Find more information about Italy’s current Covid-19 situation and vaccination campaign on the Italian health ministry’s website (available in English).

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