Reopening plan of the Danish society; only with a mandatory corona passport

A long-term plan was agreed late last night, an important element will be the implementation of a mandatory corona passport to be allowed to take part in activites or even to go to the hairdresser for everyone above the age of 15.

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By Bente D. Knudsen

Danish Prime Minister, Mette Frederiksen, presented the plan to reopen the Danish society late last night, a plan which had been negotiated and agreed upon with most of the political parties in the Danish Parliament. Only one party decided to leave the negotiations, Nye Borgerlige, as they found the mandatory use of a corona passport for even simple things to be a measure too much.

The plan has as an objective that when all Danish residents above the age of 50 have been offered a vaccine, then the Danish society will be able to open completely.

A few exceptions to this will still  be for instance travel and tourism but the details have not yet been published.

As of the 6 April, Danish schools will be able to reopen with physical presence 50 percent of the time. For university students and other students, they will be able to return with 20 percent physical presence unless their education has many practical elements which demand more physical presence.

Students can return to school but will need to be tested weekly and there will be demands of continued distancing and the use of face masks.

Liberal businesses may reopen on the 6 April, this means for instance hairdressers much to the joy of the many whose locks have grown long after a three-month lockdown.

Demands of a corona passport will become mandatory for all Danish residents from the age of 16 to get access to many activities.

The corona passport will shows whether a person is vaccinated, has a negative test of less than 72 hours or has been infected with COVID-19.

The passport will make it possible to go to cultural institutions, restaurants and bars, the exact details where and when a pass must be shown will be issued once the details are in place.

Also, the use of facemasks will be important during the reopening phases.

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On the 13 April businesses in shopping centres, department stores and shopping malls below 15,000m2 may reopen. The cinemas, restaurants and cafés that are located within these malls may not reopen.

The next phase will be as of 21 April, however it will depend on the development of the epidemic, as the Government will evaluate how spread develops and the impact of the phases on the infection rates.

On 21 April according to plan the shopping malls and department stores above 15,000 m2 may reopen. Also, outdoor serving in restaurants and bars will be possible, and cultural institutions, museums and libraries may again open their doors, however visitors and guests only have access upon presentation of a corona pass.

Indoor sports activities for children and young people below the age of 18 may reopen, details will be issued once they have been negotiated.

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On 6 May, upon presentation of a corona passport, indoor activities such as cinemas, conference centres, theatres etc may again open for visitors, as well as indoor serving at restaurants, cafés etc.

From 21 May all indoor activities that have not opened in one of the former phases may reopen, again using the corona passport as the mandatory access ticket.

The corona passport will become the essential means of access to living a normal life again.

The Government is working on the details of the passport, it will be possible to get a written document so that those citizens who are not digital can have a printed version. The Danish corona passport will be validated in line with work done on a European level to issue a common one valid in all the EU countries.

At present no information about travel, tourism and the Danish borders have been issued, instead the Government has prolonged the current measures until the 21 April. This means that the current restrictions for access to Denmark and travel from Denmark have not changed, the world is still red on the travel guide of the Danish Foreign Office.

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The opposition parties have demanded that the use of the corona pass must have an expiry date, and the agreement is that the pass should be phased out by the end of August 2021 when all Danish residents have been offered a free vaccination. Details of the phasing out will be negotiated by the end of the summer the current long term plan states.