Travel to Denmark: England, Northern Ireland and Greek holiday destinations upgraded in latest guidelines

Editor's note: article updated July 19th 2021 to include information about worthy purpose entry requirements.

In its latest travel guidelines, which are updated every Friday, the Danish foreign ministry classified all of England and Northern Ireland as red on its four-tier colour system for Covid-19 travel restrictions.

That means the ministry advises against all travel to all of the UK with the exception of Wales, which remains orange (all non-essential travel is discouraged). Scotland was already a red country, as were parts of England – which has now been made completely red.

This means all travellers from England, Northern Ireland and Scotland will need to present a PCR test taken within the past 72 hours before boarding a plane to Denmark and will need to isolate upon arrival, even if previously vaccinated or infected.

Vaccinated people from Wales can still travel to Denmark without having to isolate under the updated guidelines, which take effect at 4pm on July 17th.

Additionally, a worthy purpose is required to enter Denmark for all visitors from red countries. For orange countries, vaccinated people do not require a worthy purpose to enter Denmark, but people travelling on the basis of a recent negative test or prior infection do need a worthy purpose. It should be noted that the list of valid worthy purposes is shorter for red countries than for orange countries. You can read more about the specific rules and criteria for fulfilling a worthy purpose here.

Denmark classifies countries and regions around the world into four categories for Covid-19 travel restrictions: green, yellow, orange and red. The colour codes determine the rules that must be observed to enter Denmark, including those related to quarantine or isolation.

The requirements vary depending on whether you are travelling with a negative recent test, are fully vaccinated or have previously been infected with Covid-19. You can read more about the rules for each of the colour categories here and rules during isolation here.

The colours of countries and regions are revised on a weekly basis, based on objective criteria and the health situation in the relevant locations.

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Five of Greece’s 13 regions were meanwhile upgraded from green to the higher caution level of yellow in Friday’s update.

The yellow regions now include capital city Athens along with popular holiday destinations Crete, Rhodes and Kos.

Luxembourg, the Netherlands and three Spanish regions (Galicia, Castilla-La Mancha and Melilla) were also switched from green to yellow.

Authorities do not advise Danish residents against travel to yellow countries or regions, but unlike green areas, they are required to take a Covid-19 test after returning to Denmark.

Foreign nationals (not including Denmark residents) travelling from yellow countries and regions must take a Covid-19 test before and after entry to Denmark if they are not vaccinated or previously infected with Covid-19 (within the last 12 months and more than 14 days ago).

A total of eight percent of positive coronavirus tests registered in Denmark in the last week were linked to the infected person’s recent travel to Spain, according to data from the Danish Patient Safety Authority reported by broadcaster DR earlier on Friday.