The new restriction was announced by the transport ministry and is effective until January 17th. It applies to both Danish citizens and foreign residents of Denmark, while foreign nationals who live in the UK remain banned from entering Denmark.
Children up to and including the age of 12 are exempted from the requirement.
“The government is following the situation closely and we can see that a large number of the passengers arriving on flights from the United Kingdom have not accepted the offer of a (coronavirus) test. That gives an increased risk of more of the particularly contagious variant of Covid-19 coming into Denmark without us detecting it,” transport minister Benny Engelbrecht said in a statement.
“We are therefore making a ban on flying with passengers from the United Kingdom who have not tested negative,” the minister added.
The new rules forbid airlines departing the UK from allowing passengers on board without a negative Covid-19 test, according to the ministry statement.
The ban applies to all passengers, and airlines are responsible for ensuring nobody is allowed to board without a negative test. The Danish Transport, Building and Housing Authority is responsible for checking compliance.
The Danish foreign ministry is currently advising against all travel to the United Kingdom due to the mutated, faster-spreading variant of Covid-19.
All foreign nationals who live in the UK (including British citizens) are still banned from entering Denmark, in a continuation of rules introduced in December confirmed by the justice ministry.
That means all UK residents, unless they are citizens of Denmark, will “as the clear principal” be denied entry to Denmark, the Ministry of Justice said in a statement on Sunday.
The travel restriction has been extended until January 17th.
Brits who reside in Denmark and Danes who live in the UK are allowed to travel to Denmark if they show a negative test at the time of travel, as outlined above.
“We must do what we can to limit the cases of the mutated virus from the United Kingdom in Denmark. The government – like many other countries in the EU – has therefore decided to extend current entry restrictions for persons who reside in the United Kingdom,” justice minister Nick Hækkerup said.
The decision to tighten travel restrictions against the UK was taken last month due to the spread of a mutated form of Covid-19.
The new variant of the coronavirus is believed to have first appeared in London and Kent and is reported to be up to 70 percent more contagious than other forms. Based on what scientists know so far, the variant does not appear to cause more serious illness than other kinds of coronavirus.
Source: thelocal.dk
