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COVID-19 RULES

Denmark’s health authority scraps isolation guidelines for Covid-19

The Danish Health Authority no longer recommends isolation following a positive Covid-19 test.

Denmark’s health authority scraps isolation guidelines for Covid-19
Danish health authorities no longer require isolation after a positive Covid-19 test, but recommend stying home of you are ill. File photo: Tim Kildeborg Jensen/Ritzau Scanpix

In a statement, the Health Authority said on Thursday that Covid-19 is no longer considered to have any special status compared to other illnesses, and that isolation is therefore no longer required following a positive test.

“We can now take even more steps towards normal conditions in relation to the Covid-19 response in both the community and the health service,” the Health Authority’s acting head of department Line Raahauge Hvass said in the statement.

“There is no longer any need for very specific requirements for Covid-19 in relation to other diseases, for example for a person with a positive Covid-19 test to isolate for at least four days,” she said.

The Health Authority still recommends staying home if you are ill, however. This is to help prevent the spread of both Covid-19 and influenza.

It is important to “prevent infection with all types of respiratory infections, because influenza can also cause serious illness for elderly and chronically ill people and put strain on the health service,” Hvass said.

“You should stay home if you are sick – regardless of whether you think it’s Covid-19, influenza, or another respiratory infection,” she said.

The change in Health Authority guidelines also means the end of standardised Covid-19 testing for all people admitted to hospital.

Denmark’s vaccination programme for Covid-19 remains unchanged, with all people over the age of 50 offered a booster or “fourth dose” of the vaccine this winter.

People under 50 can also be offered vaccination if they are in risk groups for serious illness.

Those not eligible for the booster can still receive one under a paid scheme.

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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.

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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