Full ban on visitors from Denmark arriving in UK and NI announced after ‘variant strain of Coronavirus’ detected

According to a post on the Department of Health website, the Denmark travel ban has been put in place after a variant strain of Coronavirus has led to a number of outbreaks of COVID-19 in mink farms in Denmark.

“There has been some limited overspill into local communities in Denmark.

As a precaution, the Danish Government has ordered a widespread cull of mink across the country.

As a precautionary measure, the UK Government has announced a full travel ban on visitors from Denmark arriving in to all UK airports and ports, including those in Northern Ireland.

This ban took effect from 4am on Saturday 7 November 2020.

Northern Ireland citizens who have been in Denmark are allowed to return home but are required to follow strict self-isolation rules when they return.

If you are recently returned from Denmark you must complete a full 14 days self-isolation following your return to Northern Ireland. All members of your household must also complete the same period of self-isolation. There are no exemptions. The self-isolation must last until two weeks have passed since you were last in Denmark.

If you have returned from Denmark and start to develop Covid-19 symptoms, you should contact your GP or local hospital. Make sure you tell them you have been in Denmark within the last 14 days.

If you need a Covid test the health service will arrange this. Given the changing situation it is preferable that in this instance your test would be done through the health service locally. You will not need to book a test for yourself.

If you are contacting any part of the health service for any other medical reason, you must also inform them you have been in Denmark within the last 14 days. If you are due to have a planned out-patient review or you are due to attend for non-urgent elective or planned care in the 14 days following your return from Denmark you should contact the service in question, as you will need to complete your 14 days of self-isolation.

These are precautionary measures and they will be kept under continuing review while more definitive information on the Danish outbreaks is obtained”.

___________________________________________________

A message from our editor: Thank you for reading this article. We’re more reliant on your support than ever as the shift in consumer habits brought about by Coronavirus impacts our advertisers.

Please consider purchasing a copy of the paper. You can also support trusted, fact-checked journalism by taking out a digital subscription of the News Letter.