Denmark’s government has decided to lift all COVID-19 restrictions within the country, becoming the first European Union country to implement such changes to its rules.
Even though the recent update of the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) revealed that except for some regions in Poland and Romania, all other countries in Europe continue to be profoundly affected by the spread of the Coronavirus and therefore placed on the dark-red category, authorities in Denmark no longer consider the virus a “socially critical sickness”.
The abolishment of COVID-19 restrictions, which were imposed by the Danish authorities in order to maintain the Coronavirus situation under control, means that travellers are no longer obliged to wear face masks or use the Covid vaccination certificate in order to enter bars, restaurants, and other indoor venues, SchengenVisaInfo reports.
In addition, the mandatory quarantine requirement for persons who have tested positive for the virus has also been abolished.
“No one can know what will happen next December. But we promised the citizens of Denmark that we will only have restrictions if they are truly necessary, and we’ll lift them as soon as we can. That’s what’s happening right now,” the Danish Health Minister Magnus Heunicke pointed out in this regard as reported by CNN.
The epidemiologist, Lone Simonsen of the University of Roskilde, stressed that “with Omicron not being a severe disease for the vaccinated, we believe it is reasonable to lift restrictions,” according to AFP news.
Since the start of the Coronavirus outbreak, authorities in Denmark have reported a total of 1,742,569 cases of the Coronavirus infection and 3,755 deaths, based on the data provided by the World Health Organization (WHO).
In addition, the same source shows that the Scandinavian country registered a total of 304,388 new COVID-19 infection cases in the last seven days and 134 deaths.
Like many other European countries, Denmark authorities have also reported infection cases with the Omicron variant.
However, despite the current epidemiological situation, Denmark’s decision to abolish all COVID-19 travel restrictions comes after the country has a high vaccination rate, according to experts.
Over 80 per cent of the population over the age of five have received two vaccinations, and more than 60 per cent of the population have taken the booster shot.
In order to facilitate the travel process amid the ongoing pandemic situation, authorities in Denmark previously announced that they decided to recognize several other vaccines for travel.
Such a decision was confirmed through a press release issued by the country’s Ministry of Health, while it noted that the list of the vaccines approved for entry into Denmark would be expanded.
Besides the vaccines approved for use by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), Denmark now accepts the following four additional vaccines as valid proof of immunization: Covaxin, Covishield, Sinopharm and Sinovac.