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HEALTH

Coronapas: Denmark’s Covid-19 health pass is no more after two years

The Coronapas, the Covid-19 health pass used in Denmark to document vaccination, test or infection history status during the pandemic, will be fully deactivated over two years since its introduction.

Published: 29 June 2023 16:44 CEST
Coronapas: Denmark’s Covid-19 health pass is no more after two years
The coronapas joins queues at testing centres as a memory of the pandemic in Denmark. Photo: Minsundhed

The Coronapas will be shut down at the end of June and can no longer be used to view vaccination history, health authorities said in a statement.

That is because Covid-19 travel certificates expire in the EU on June 30th and EU rules have not been extended to provide legal basis for an EU Covid travel pass.

The health pass was last year deactivated for use in Denmark after all Danish Covid restrictions ended, but was retained for EU travel and certification purposes.

The word “coronapas” entered the Danish dictionary after the digital certificate was introduced in May 2021 and was voted word of the year in 2021, but is now defunct.

While the EU Covid health pass provisions are about to end, the World Health Organization’s European office warned on Tuesday the risk of Covid-19 has not gone away, saying it was still responsible for nearly 1,000 deaths a week in the region.

The global health body announced on May 5th that the Covid-19 pandemic was no longer deemed a “global health emergency”, however.

READ ALSO: Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The digital health certificate no longer exists on the Coronapas app or in the MinSundhed app, which is an extension of the sundhed.dk health platform.

But a record of all vaccinations and the vaccinations of your children can still be accessed through Sundhed.dk, the health portal said.

A coronapas was displayed some 31.6 million times on the MinSundhed app alone between October 2021 and the end of 2022, according to the statement.

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HEALTH

Tick season in Denmark: Demand for TBE vaccine soars in parts of country

People in Copenhagen and surrounding areas of Zealand have increasingly sought vaccination against tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) after an increase in ticks in parts of the countryside.

Published: 30 April 2024 17:13 CEST
Tick season in Denmark: Demand for TBE vaccine soars in parts of country

Baltic Sea island Bornholm is the part of Denmark most known to be a risk area for the rare, but dangerous disease tick-borne encephalitis (TBE).

However, last year saw a rise in the number of people from Copenhagen, Greater Copenhagen and North Zealand seeking vaccination against the disease, according to figures released by the national disease control agency, State Serum Institute (SSI), reported by local media TV2 Kosmopol.

In North Zealand alone, the number of vaccinations increased last year from around 500 to 2,000 per 100,000 residents.

Nationally, 89,000 doses were given last year according to SSI, around three times the expected amount.

READ ALSO: What you need to know about ticks in Denmark and how to avoid them 

The trend is expected to continue in 2024. The vaccination serice Danske Lægers Vaccinations Services has already administered 11,500 so far this year at its 47 clinics across the country. That is 3.5 times more than in the same period last year, with 75 percent of the vaccinations given on Zealand.

Walks in the countryside and trips to Sweden were given by patients requesting the vaccine, the company’s CEO Tanja Sølvkjær told TV 2 Kosmopol.

SSI states on its website that the primary risk areas in Denmark are still Bornholm and the rural North Zealand region of Tisvilde Hegn. However, there may also be some risk of TBE infection elsewhere on Zealand, the agency states.

Head of department at SSI Peter Henrik Andersen said that while it is good that people are seeking vaccination against the virus, the right people must be vaccinated.

Vaccination may be relevant if you regularly visit forests where cases of TBE infection have been detected, he said.

SSI case mapping shows that five cases of TBE were detected on Bornholm last year, while there were two in Tisvilde Hegn and the surrounding area.

Ticks (skovflåter) can be found all over Denmark in forests, meadows, and long grass. They are particularly active during the summer months and increase in number if the weather has been warm and humid.

In Denmark, the most common disease ticks transmit is Lyme disease, but ticks can also carry the very rare but dangerous TBE.

Only people who spend extended time in forests near Tisvilde Hegn as well as on the island of Bornholm should consider vaccination, SSI experts have previously said.

TBE is a viral brain infection caused by a particular tick bite. Flu-like symptoms can occur a week or more after the bite and can develop to include nausea, dizziness, and in around a third of cases, severe long-term problems or permanent neurological damage.

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