South African travellers, as well as visitors from Lesotho, Eswatini, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Malawi and Zambia will, once again, be allowed entry into Denmark.
Why is Denmark allowing South African travellers?
In a statement, the Danish government revealed that due to increasing cases of the Omicron variant, its red list policy — much like with the United Kingdom — is fruitless and “can no longer be considered justified by the need to contain and prevent the import of the worrying virus variant.”
“The decision was made by the inter-ministerial task force for COVID-19 travel restrictions on the recommendation of the State Serum Institute (SSI),” the statement read.
Entry requirements for travelling to Denmark
Travellers from the Southern African countries listed above will, from Thursday 23 December 2021, be processed as ‘high-risk’, meaning that “as a starting point, there will be requirements for testing and isolation after entry.”
Interestingly, these special conditions will not apply to Danish nationals and European Union (EU) citizens.
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“There are a number of exceptions to the requirement for testing and isolation. For example, Danes and people living in e.g. an EU country entering from one of the 10 countries and which is fully vaccinated with an EMA-approved vaccine, except for isolation and test requirements after entry into Denmark,” the government explained.
Local citizens from the regions listed above will have to produce negative PCR tests and may also undergo mandatory quarantine. Currently, international arrivals from Southern Africa will have to pass through Hamad International Airport, Doha (DOH) and Istanbul Airport (IST).
However, on the bright side, at least Denmark’s foreign affairs ministry will no longer “advise against all travel to the countries in question due to the presence of a worrying virus variant.”
“The travel guide to the countries in question will then depend on the security situation and not the COVID-19 situation in the individual countries. There will no longer be countries categorized as red virus variant areas,” the statement added.
