Denmark gets digital coronavirus passport for travel in reopened EU

Denmark has unveilled a health app to keep track of its citizens' Covid immunity this summer. Photo / Markus Winkler, Unsplash

The Danish government on Friday presented its digital coronavirus passport enabling people to travel abroad or, in Denmark, go to the hairdresser, a tattoo parlour, dine inside a restaurant or wherever else it is needed.

"The corona passport we present today can be used from July 1 when you can travel within the EU," said Finance Minister Nicolai Vammen.

Some 20 per cent of Denmark's population of 6 million have been fully vaccinated, according to the latest figures, he said.

During a press conference outside the Copenhagen airport, Health Minister Magnus Heunicke held up his phone to show the app, which only features a QR code and a green bar if the person has been vaccinated twice or recently tested negative for COVID-19.

"What we get now is an app that makes it easier and simpler to use," Heunicke said. "There is no doubt that we will have to use it over the summer, but it is of course something that needs to be phased out."

People will either have the code scanned or will flash it before entering an airport, a harbor, a train station, a hairdresser or an eatery.

In certain cases, a physical document can be sent in the mail to serve the same purpose as the app.

"It is a solution that is very easy to use," said Wammen, adding that if it flashes red, it will not say why.

Wammen could not say whether all EU countries will be ready to go live by the end of June, allowing residents to reunite with friends and relatives living across 30 European countries.

"But Denmark is ready," he said.

- Associated Press