In a statement issued on Thursday morning, the ministry said its new travel guideline model would be based on current infection levels in regions within individual countries.

That means that authorities will be able to advise against travel to one region of a country, while giving the all-clear for travel to a different region within that country.

For example, the ministry could advise against travel to the northwest of England while recommending travel to London; or recommend travel to the Canary Islands but not mainland Spain.

The regional model will apply to countries in the EU, Schengen area and the United Kingdom.

For travel to a region to be recommended, infection rates in the area must be below 30 infections per week per 100,000 inhabitants. That is the same threshold currently applied by Denmark nationally.

However, Covid-19 prevalence across the continent is currently at such a high level that the change to a regional model is unlikely to immediately impact travel guidelines currently in force.

A change to a regional model has been strongly advocated by Denmark’s tourism industry.

Such a model is now possible due to better availability of regional data from Italy and Spain, foreign minister Jeppe Kofod said.

“This gives us the opportunity to keep low infection regions open, provided countries can give us the necessary health and test data,” Kofod said.

“Accordingly, we can no close off regions with higher infections with greater precision,” he added.

At the present time, people who live in countries to which Denmark advises against travel are already required to provide a so-called 'worthy' (anerkendelsesværdigt) reason for entering Denmark. This can include work or family reasons but not tourism. Additionally, a negative Covid-19 test may need to be documented at the border.

Detailed guidance can be found on the Danish police website. 

In another change from current guidelines, the foreign ministry is to change its advice to people returning from so-called ‘red’ countries, to where travel is not advised.

Currently, people returning from these areas are asked to isolate for 14 days after returning home.

That guideline will now be revised down to 10 days and can be further shortened if a Covid-19 test is taken and returns a negative result. The test must be taken at least four days after arriving in Denmark.

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