The Embassy of Portugal regrets the decision taken today by the Danish authorities on the opening of borders in the European area which requires that travelers arriving from Portugal must be subject to a quarantine.

As it has been reported to the Danish authorities, we believe that an assessment carried out solely on the basis of the incidence rate per 100 000 inhabitants in the last 7 days does not reflect reality, as it fails to take into account the testing policy and the health situation as a whole. This was recognized by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control, which clearly stated that the definition of such rate is arbitrary, clarifying that "the incidence rate is not a sufficient indicator, because it depends on the testing strategy and the volume (of tests)".

In fact, despite the fact that in the last 7 days the incidence rate per 100 000 inhabitants is above the minimum limit imposed by the Danish authorities of 20 cases per 100 000 inhabitants, a set of others factors should be taken into account, namely:

- Portugal carried out 106 345 tests per million inhabitants, being the 6th EU country that carries out the most tests;

- only 3.6% of active cases require hospitalization, of which only 0.6% are patients admitted to Intensive Care Units;

- the mortality rate is 3.9% and continues to decrease;

- 65% of patients who tested positive recovered.

In addition, the recommendations of the European Commission have, since 15 June, aimed at restoring freedom of movement in the Schengen Area, taking into account the assessment of the health situation at the European level.

Regarding the specific rules for entering Denmark, we recommend a careful reading of the information provided by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Police on the following links:

https://um.dk/en/travel-and-residence/coronavirus-covid-19/ 

https://politi.dk/en/coronavirus-in-denmark/travelling-in-or-out-of-denmark/entry-into-denmark

The Embassy will remain in close contact with the Danish authorities and will continue providing all the necessary information in order to contribute to a further clarification of the situation.

The list regarding the opening of the borders will be updated every Thursday at 16h00.

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