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CORONAPAS

Denmark confirms change to coronapas validity period

The validity period for Denmark’s Covid-19 health pass, the coronapas, will be reduced to five months following parliamentary approval.

Published: 12 January 2022 18:04 CET
Updated: 13 January 2022 11:59 CET
Health Minister Magnus Heunicke displays the coronapas at a May 2021 briefing. The validity period for the health pass following Covid-19 vaccination will be reduced on January 16th.
Health Minister Magnus Heunicke displays the coronapas at a May 2021 briefing. The validity period for the health pass following Covid-19 vaccination will be reduced on January 16th. Photo:Martin Sylvest/Ritzau Scanpix

The changes to the rules, first reported last week, were confirmed by Health Minister Magnus Heunicke to broadcaster TV2 on Wednesday afternoon after a meeting of parliament’s Epidemic Committee, which must approve changes to Covid-19 restrictions.

Under current rules, a coronapas is valid for seven months after a person is fully vaccinated, meaning they have received their second or final dose of the Covid-19 vaccine.

The new rules reduce that validity period to five months. The coronapas becomes valid again or remains valid if the holder has received a booster vaccination.

The change comes into effect on Sunday January 16th according to earlier information provided by the Ministry of health. This means that people who received their second dose five to seven months ago but have not had a booster will lose their green coronapas on that date.

Up to 500,000 people in Denmark could be lose their valid coronapas as a result of the change to the rules, news wire Ritzau writes.

The Covid health pass will become valid again immediately after the booster jab is received, according to the planned rule changes earlier announced by the Ministry of Health.

No decision has yet been made on the validity period of the coronapas following the booster jab. As such, no expiry date is currently set for the pass following boosters.

According to the rule changes tabled by the government to the Epidemic Committee earlier this week, the period for which the coronapas becomes invalid following a positive PCR test for Covid-19 is reduced from 14 days to 11 days under the new rules. It remains valid until five months after the positive PCR test (unless the holder subsequently receives a second or booster vaccine dose).

A valid coronapas is currently required at bars, restaurants, cafes and several other customer-facing businesses in the service sector. It must also be presented on intercity trains and regional buses, at universities, language schools and other further education, at state workplaces and at gyms and places of worship.

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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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