It seems the news is now official: https://politi.dk/en/coronavirus-in-...open-or-banned

The wording is weird though "Will remove" isn't the same as "is removing" or "removed". My understanding is that during phase 4, borders will be reopened with no 6-nights stay requirement. What I can't find (but perhaps a Dane or Danish speaker could confirm) is when phase 4 is supposed to be rolled out.

The 6 night stay requirement is removed. If its removal isn’t already effective, it likely will be effective on or before the day masks become mandatory when using Danish public transit: August 22nd. I suspect enforcement of that night stay requirement already ended, but I’m not sure about this.

Phase 4 is schedule to remain in place until Halloween is over, but that’s just the plan as of now.

The phase 4 agreement was wrapped up on Friday and appears to have gone into effect.

"It will again be possible to go to the bar until 02:00. And tourists on extended weekends are again allowed to visit Denmark, even if they have not booked six nights.”
https://finans.dk/politik/ECE1234474...-er-paa-plads/

"Bars and restaurants are now allowed to stay open longer and tourists no longer have to book six nights”
https://www.dr.dk/nyheder/indland/he...ningens-fase-4

Generous use of say Google translate is encouraged. :)

Just a small data point. I crossed the Danish border by car from Germany on Thursday and was not asked for any proof of the length of my stay (I'm actually here for 12 nights).

The border post was manned by one rather bored looking soldier, who glanced at my Austrian licence plate, before - bizarrely - greeting me in French and waving me on. I was stopped for about 10 seconds.

France is now a banned country :(
So, no Denmark trip next week end...

My understanding is that there is an advice against non essential travel but that the border isn’t closed and that you can still get in/out to/from France.

Yes of course, but now one needs to prove the worthy purpose of the visit. I wish to own a boat in Billund though :D.
The trip will be rebooked for end of November - December, hoping that Denmark will issue an all yellow Europe map by then!

If you make that trip soon, please report it back to understand how are the arrival plus departure processes there! Thanks!

So the Danish Police site only shows a Europe map to define open or banned countries. I know the U.S. is currently banned, but do the same “worthy purposes” apply? As in, I live in the U.S., but my company has offices in Silkeborg and Copenhagen (Malmö too), and I am in process of hiring a new sales person. It would be great to do in-person interviews. So can I enter Denmark with the purpose of a legitimate business meeting?

A banned country is a banned country whether inside or outside of Europe, so yes worthy purposes apply and yes you can enter Denmark. I would think so anyway, I don’t speak from personal experience.

"Persons resident in banned countries
Persons residing in a banned (orange) country can travel into Denmark with a worthy purpose. On this page you will find information about rules and required documents.

If you are a resident of a country classified as a banned country, you can enter Denmark if:

You are to attend a business meeting

You can enter Denmark for the purpose of attending meetings etc. as part of your job.

Relevant documents
You must be able to present evidence, such as an email, of the working relationship and of the time and place of the meeting/work.
Further, you must be able to present the contact details of a relevant contact person for the meeting/work in Denmark who can confirm the information provided by you.”

https://politi.dk/en/coronavirus-in-...nned-countries

And don’t forget about the test!

https://politi.dk/en/-/media/mediefi...quirements.pdf

https://www.bll.dk/en-en/planlaeg-re...-informationer

Yep, saw that. I don’t know how easy it is to get a quick turnaround test before departing, but they make it easy enough to test right there at the airport... 48 hour quarantine while awaiting result.

Can you still do an airside transit at the airport even if you come from a "banned" European country? At the height of the lockdown in the Spring that was explicitly authorised but I cannot find anything on the current politi.dk covid pages that address the issue. All the references to "transit" in those pages seem to assume actually entering and traveling through the country (as for those landing in CPH to continue to Southern Sweden by road or rail) rather than just landing and taking off from the same airport.

It is my understanding that you can transfer from one international flight to another international flight at CPH even if your country is closed. You probably can't stay overnight at a hotel in Denmark, but you can probably take the train from the airport to Sweden (it takes 9 minutes from CPH to Hyllie), stay overnight in Sweden and then return to the airport the next day.

NickB, what is your country of residence? Your location mentions both the UK and France. While France is well above the Danish admission criteria, the UK still seems to be safe. The UK seems to be at around 15-20 infections per 100k inhabitants in one week (measured as an average over two weeks). The limit is 30 (so almost twice the current levels), but if more than 5% of the virus tests turn out positive, the limit drops to 20.

Thanks. Presumably no reason why this should not apply to BLL too?
I am currently resident in the UK but I am afraid that the stats are worse than that. We crossed the 30 threshold at the beginning of the week and we are currently at 37.2 and rising. It is only a matter of time before the UK joins the banned countries list.

Oh, and welcome to FT, Im a new user!

I can't speak of transit via BLL; but at CPH, US passport users resident in the US or elsewhere beyond the Schengen area have been allowed transit at CPH to get back to the US if not going beyond the airport in recent weeks too.

You seem to have taken the value from the "14-day cumulative number of COVID-19 cases per 100 000" field on the website of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control. This is not the correct unit of measurement. Denmark takes all reported infections during the past 14 days and calculates the average weekly rate per 100,000 people. 37.2 is the biweekly rate, so you will have to divide this by two to get approximately the correct value. The Danish government sometimes makes adjustments to the data. For example, Luxembourg reported -1385 cases on 28 August, but Denmark decided to count this as zero cases on that date.

The UK scored 12.5 last Thursday and probably scores around 17-18 in today's assessment. A new assessment is published every Thursday at 4 PM Danish time. I'd imagine that the border will close for the Czech Republic after today's assessment (effective from Saturday). The rate seems to be between 20 and 30 in Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands and Portugal, so the border closes if more than 5% of the tests are positive but remains open if less than 5% of the tests are positive. I can't find updated information about the rate of positive tests, nor can I find updated infection rates for Switzerland or the microstates.