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Denmark Will Require a Negative COVID-19 Test for All Arriving Visitors, Including Those Fully Vaccinated, effective 12/27/21. Arrivals without a permanent address in Denmark must have negative results from a COVID-19 PCR test taken within the 72 hours prior to arrival in Denmark, or from a rapid antigen test taken within the 48 hours prior to arrival. Danish residents are encouraged to also get tested prior to arrival, but have until 24 hours after arrival to take a COVID-19 test. The new rules apply regardless of vaccination status.
Denmark joins Sweden, which now also requires negative results from a COVID-19 test taken within the 72 hours prior to arrival in Sweden, if the traveler is arriving from outside the European Economic Area (EEA) and from certain exempt countries.
The move comes as Denmark has seen the Omicron variant become the dominant COVID-19 strain, with the average number of new daily cases more than tripling over the past month:
The good news is that while total hospitalizations have gone up, the hospitalization rate for Omicron-infected patients has been 37% the rate of that for other variants. Denmark is truly the perfect test case, because of its fantastic COVID-19 sequencing capabilities. Between 11/22/21-12/15/21, Denmark had over 146,000 COVID-19 positive patients. Of these, 18,941 were determined to have the Omicron strain, and just 0.6% of them were hospitalized. Of the other 127,060 patients infected with other COVID-19 variants, primarily Delta, 1.6% were hospitalized, per Denmark's Statens Serum Institut.
Denmark's lower hospitalization rate for Omicron is also supported thus far by a study by London's Imperial College, where a team headed by Professor Neil Ferguson analyzed hospitalization rates for all COVID-19 PCR test-confirmed cases in England from 12/1/21-12/14/21. The study included 56,000 Omicron cases and 269,000 Delta cases. The risk of hospitalization that included at least a 1 night hospital stay was 40-45% lower with Omicron than with Delta.
While the above preliminary data is good news about Omicron's severity, there's still the very real risk of compromised hospital care due to hospitals, doctors and nurses being overwhelmed by patients, so we urge our clients and readers to continue to be vigilant about protecting themselves, their loved ones, and reducing the strain on their community's healthcare resources. Safe holiday celebrations to all!
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