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COVID-19 RULES

Denmark to end all local Covid-19 lockdowns on Wednesday 

The administrative order which has since April forced Danish parishes and municipalities to go into lockdown if infection levels pass certain thresholds expires on Wednesday, meaning the end of local lockdowns in the country.

Published: 31 August 2021 09:41 CEST
Denmark to end all local Covid-19 lockdowns on Wednesday 
A sign in a store window during a local Covid-19 lockdown in Denmark. Photo: Keld Navntoft/Ritzau Scanpix

The order, which has been in place since the middle of April, currently means that four parishes are locked down: Tvis in Holstebro, Skelund in Mariagerfjord, Vollsmose in Odense and Saltum in Jammerbugt.

Under the order, parishes have locked down if the infection rate rises above more than the equivalent of 10 infected per 1,000 residents at the same time as at least 20 people are infected, and at least three percent of tests are positive. 

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Under the system, if they were ordered into lockdown, parishes were required to close primary schools, after-school clubs, youth and adult education institutions, and public facilities such as zoos, museums, art galleries, theatres, concert halls, cinemas, libraries, adult education centres, music and culture schools. 

Denmark’s health ministry confirmed to TV2 that the expiry of the order means that the four parishes currently locked down could reopen schools and other institutions. 

The expiry of the order also means that other parishes and municipalities which exceed the thresholds in future will not need to go into local lockdown. 

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COVID-19 RULES

Denmark’s infectious disease agency does not recommend Covid tests for China arrivals

Travellers from China should not need a negative Covid-19 test when arriving in Denmark, the national infectious disease control agency State Serum Institute recommended on Saturday, in an assessment sent to the Ministry of Health.

Published: 7 January 2023 17:26 CET
Denmark's infectious disease agency does not recommend Covid tests for China arrivals

In the assessment by the State Serum Institute (SSI), it was noted that there aren’t expected to be a large number of arrivals coming directly from China and that any tests would have a marginal affect on Danish epidemic control.

However SSI wrote that it was still important to keep an eye on new variants of Covid-19 and suggested that a sample of voluntary-based PCR tests could be introduced for travellers from China.

The assessment was requested by Denmark’s health minister Sophie Løhde, following a recommendation on Wednesday by European Union experts to tighten travel rules.

Infection rates in China are high after it abolished its ‘zero Covid’ policy in late 2022, although no precise numbers are available.

Several European countries, including France, Spain, Italy and the UK, had already introduced testing requirements, while Sweden on Thursday announced a similar step, as did Germany, with an added announcement on Saturday to discourage non-essential travel from Germany to China.

The United States, Canada, India, South Korea and Taiwan have also put testing rules in place.

Health minister Sophie Løhde also asked SSI to assess testing waste water from aircraft landed from China. SSI responded that there is limited experience in this.

SSI currently analyses samples from shared toilet tanks at four airports twice a week – Copenhagen, Aarhus, Aalborg and Billund. The method would have to be changed in order to detect new Covid-19 variants, which would take up to four weeks to implement, according to the assessment.

Løhde has informed the parliamentary parties about the assessment and has asked the Epidemic Commission for an advisory assessment, she said in a press release. Once this is done, the recommendations will be discussed. 

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