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Denmark requires travellers from Middle East hubs to take Covid-19 test

All travellers arriving in Denmark from Doha and Dubai airports are to be required to take a Covid-19 test, the Danish Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday.

Published: 1 December 2021 17:02 CET
Passengers on flights from Doha and Dubai are now required to take a Covid-19 test on arrival in Denmark.
Passengers on flights from Doha and Dubai are now required to take a Covid-19 test on arrival in Denmark. Photo: Regis Duvignau/Reuters/Ritzau Scanpix

Isolation rules are also to be tightened, the ministry said in a statement.

The restrictions on arrivals from the two airports, in Qatar and the United Arab Emirates respectively, are aimed at limited and delaying the spread of the new Omicron Covid-19 variant in Denmark, according to the ministry.

Authorities in Denmark, the State Serum Institute and the Danish Health Authority, recommended the measure, as did the government’s independent Epidemic Commission.

The test requirement will apply to all arrivals on flights from Doha and Dubai. Passengers who refuse to take a test before leaving the airport in Denmark can be fined.

Doha and Dubai airports are both hubs for regional travel and passengers from South Africa transfer at the airports on routes to Europe. South Africa first identified the Omicron variant and alerted the international community to it last week.

Several countries have subsequently placed travel bans on South Africa and neighbouring countries, including Denmark. The initial list of restrictions on South Africa and six other countries — Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini – was expanded this week to include Angola, Malawi and Zambia.

Travel to Denmark from those countries is only permissible if one of a narrow range of “worthy purpose” criteria is fulfilled. Requirements to test and isolate for 10 days would also then apply to the traveller.

A negative PCR test on day six after arrival now allows the person to leave isolation under Danish rules. This is a tightened of previous isolation rules which allowed quarantine to be broken after a negative test on day four.

An immunity pass, given to visitors who have previously had Covid-19 and are therefore conferred immunity to the virus, will now be valid for 180 days instead of the previous 12 months, in another rule change announced by the ministry on Wednesday.

The minimum age at which a Covid-19 health pass can be demanded of travellers to Denmark is now 15 years. It was previously 16 years.

READ ALSO: How foreign citizens can get a booster Covid-19 jab in Denmark

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What’s the traffic going to be like around Ascension Day in Denmark?

The day before Ascension Day is one of the biggest travel days of the year in Denmark, with hundreds of thousands of people setting off for their first beach break of the year. Here's what you need to know about the likely traffic hotspots.

Published: 7 May 2024 15:46 CEST
What's the traffic going to be like around Ascension Day in Denmark?

When will the traffic be worst? 

Denmark’s Roads Directorate expects traffic to start to get heavy from 2pm on Wednesday May 8th as Danes in the big cities leave work early and set off for summer houses by the coast, with congestion likely to continue until at least 7pm. 

In its traffic forecast, it predicts that some of the worst period will come late on Wednesday afternoon when cars leaving on holiday will be combined with the normal rush hour traffic, with these times given a red traffic light in its holiday travel guide. 

The agency also expects congestion in some areas on Ascension Day itself, May 9th, particularly between 11am and 2pm, although this only warrants an amber traffic light. 

When people return from their four-day break, the agency expects traffic to be heaviest on Sunday May 12th between 12am and 4pm, although this again only gets an amber warning. 

The Danish Roads Directorate has warned against travelling on Wednesday netween 2pm and 7pm. Photo: Danish Roads Directorate

Where will the traffic be worst? 

The directorate is warning of heavy traffic on the E20 motorway between Copenhagen and the Great Belt Bridge over to Funen, across Funen and also around Kolding on Jutland, with traffic dissipating as it then splits off to the various holiday destinations on the peninsular.  

It is also warning of heavy traffic on Road 16 and Road 21 in northern Zealand. 

On the Jutland peninsular it is forecasting heavy traffic on the Road 40 up to Skagen, on the E45 motorway between Kolding and Aarhus, and on the Road 11 up the west coast of Jutland between Ribe and Ringkøbing. 

Source: Danish Roads Directorate

What can you do to keep up to date with the traffic? 

The Roads Directorate recommends that people travelling on Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday check trafikinfo.dk before leaving and also listen to the P4 Trafik station during their journey to stay updated about any incidents or accidents on the roads.

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