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TECHNOLOGY

Denmark calls for bids to build digital coronavirus passports

Denmark has called for bids to build a new corona passport app that can show holders' vaccination and antibody status, and PCR and rapid test results, with the winner having just over two months to deliver.

Denmark calls for bids to build digital coronavirus passports
A coronavirus passport might allow audiences to return to the Royal Danish Theatre. Photo: Niels Christian Vilmann/Ritzau Scanpix

“The goal is for the coronavirus passport to contribute to a gradual, safe and effective reopening of Denmark,” the country’s Agency for Digitization, wrote in a press release announcing the tender.

“The specific applications will, among other things, depend on the assessment of health professionals. The solution will be developed in partnership with business and cultural organisations to ensure that it meets their individual demands.”

Denmark’s government was in February one of the first countries to announce plans for a digital coronavirus passport. It has now divided the work into two parts: developing a “user-friendly” app, and updating the health system’s IT infrastructure so that it can as seamlessly as possible transfer the required information.

As the app is intended to be shown at borders while travelling, the developer will also need to ensure that the app meets EU requirements for coronavirus passports. 

The agency has already held meetings with four companies to discuss the project, the US IT giant IBM, the Danish IT companies Netcompany and Trifork, and the Norwegian IT firm Visma.

The company that wins the bidding will be expected to deliver the finished app in May.

Jan Hessellund, chief executive of Billund airport, told the Ritzau newswire that the coronavirus passport could be “the return of travel as we knew it before Covid-19. It will be really good for us,” she said.

Rikke Zeberg, head of digitization at the Confederation of Danish Industry, said that the passport could allow a wide range businesses to reopen.

“Together with vaccines, the coronavirus passport is a crucial tool for reopening society, just as it will be one of the most important tools for ensuring a sustained reopening and avoiding a new wave of closures,” she said.

“With a vaccine or rapid test result and a coronavirus passport in hand, you could, for example, go to the cinema, go to university, or get on a plane with a minimal risk of bringing the infection with you.”

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HEALTH

Denmark registers first 2024 case of tick-borne encephalitis

This year’s first Danish case of tick-borne encephalitis has been registered in northern Zealand, the national infectious disease agency State Serum Institute (SSI) confirmed.

Denmark registers first 2024 case of tick-borne encephalitis

Although the disease is very rare in Denmark, there are usually a handful of cases each year. The forested area around Tisvilde Hegn and elsewhere in northern Zealand are particular risk zones along with parts of Bornholm.

“Infection is usually linked to spending time in risk areas, and typically going off the paths, Peter H.S. Andersen, doctor and head of department at SSI, said in a statement.

“But there have also been cases of TBE where the patient has not demonstrated known risk behaviour by going into in woods or thickets,” he added.

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

Earlier this year, it was reported that 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.

The risk of TBE remains small but case numbers have increased slightly in recent years. Some 11 cases were registered in 2023 compared with around 1 or 2 annually a decade ago.

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.

Denmark’s tick season last from spring until autumn.

In contrast to Lyme disease, the TBE virus infects its target quickly after the tick bite.

“That’s why it’s important to remove a tick as soon as you find it. Either with your fingers, a tweezer or a special tick remover,” Andersen said.

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