The United States moves to orange along with Israel, Kosovo, Lebanon, Montenegro and North Macedonia in updated travel guidelines announced by the Danish foreign ministry on Friday. The US and Israel were previously classed as “hatched orange”, while the others were yellow.

Fully vaccinated travellers do not face any change in rules as a result of the orange status. As such, fully vaccinated people from the United States and other orange countries may enter Denmark without any requirement to take a Covid-19 test before or after arrival or to isolate.

Unvaccinated people from orange countries who have conferred immunity due to previous infection with Covid-19 are likewise not required to test or isolate but, unlike vaccinated people, must provide a worthy purpose for travelling to Denmark (this does not include tourism). Worthy purpose requirements do not apply to Danish nationals or people resident in Denmark. Detailed information about worthy purposes can be found here.

People who are travelling from orange countries based on a negative test (and are therefore neither vaccinated nor have been previously infected with Covid-19) are required to isolate after entering Denmark. They must also provide a worthy purpose for travel (see above). As when arriving from yellow countries, non-vaccinated people in this category must take a Covid-19 test before and after travel to Denmark.

Detailed information on the restrictions can be found here.

Denmark’s decision comes after the European Council removed the US and the five other countries from its travel safe list on Monday, meaning visitors, particularly those not vaccinated against Covid-19, can face tighter restrictions on travel to Europe.

The EU’s decision is non-binding and individual member states can decide how to act, but Denmark’s decision on Friday follows the EU’s stance.

The move by the EU follows a steep rise in Covid rates in both the US and Israel sparked by the spread of the more contagious Delta variant.

The EU Council bases its decision on “the epidemiological situation and overall response to COVID-19, as well as the reliability of the available information and data sources.”

It also takes into account reciprocity, in other words how countries treat travellers from EU countries.

In recent weeks there has been heightened pressure to remove the US from the list, not only due to rising Covid rates but also because the US still bars non-essential travel from European countries.

The Danish foreign ministry advises against non-essential travel to orange countries. The recommendation does not immediately apply to people who are fully vaccinated or have immunity conferred by previous infection.

The new guidelines come into effect at 4pm on Saturday.

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