Denmark to require negative COVID-19 test

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Denmark announced Thursday that foreigners seeking to enter the country will be required to provide a negative COVID-19 test, regardless of vaccination status.

The requirement, which will come into force on December 27, follows similar announcements from Nordic neighbors Sweden and Finland earlier this week.

Under the new rules, all non-citizens and non-residents seeking to enter the country will need to present a negative PCR test taken within 72 hours, or a negative rapid antigen test taken within 48 hours,  the Danish Ministry of Health said in a statement.

Those exempt from the new requirement are people who can prove they have recovered from COVID-19, children and people living in the border region.

Danish residents returning to the country must either take a test prior or 24 hours within their return.

The rules are set to be in force until at least  January 17, 2022 and failure to comply will result in a fine of 3,500 Danish kroner ($530, €470).

Denmark has been struggling to contain an unprecedented surge in cases in the last few weeks, and saw a 50 percent increase in new cases last week compared to the previous one, according to health officials.

The country's health minister said Tuesday that the more transmissible Omicron variant of the disease was now the dominant strain in the country, less than a month after it was first detected in the Nordic country, as the country announced a record-breaking 13,558 cases in 24 hours.

The country of 5.8 million inhabitants has reported a total of 673,807 cases of COVID-19 with 3,173 associated deaths. — Agence France-Presse