Danish authorities on Friday raised the security level in its latest travel guidelines to "red," advising against all travel abroad and imposing stricter entry restrictions.
"From Jan. 8 until Jan. 17, the travel guidelines for the whole world will be sharpened from being 'orange' (all unnecessary travel is not recommended) to 'red.' That is, all travel to the whole world is discouraged," said a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
During a joint press conference alongside the Minister of Justice and Minister of Transport, Foreign Minister Jeppe Kofod justified the tightening of travel restrictions as a way of "buying time" to vaccinate the population.
"Right now we are seeing new mutations of COVID-19 abroad. This is a very serious development and poses a significant risk...Today's package of travel initiatives is an expression of that," said Kofod.
According to Minister of Justice Nick Haekkerup, everyone residing abroad will in principle be denied entry into Denmark "unless they have a recognizable purpose" and a negative COVID-19 test taken within the last 24 hours prior to arrival.
The new rules are an extension of earlier entry restrictions previously applied upon the United Kingdom and South Africa following the discovery of more contagious mutations of the virus in both countries.
Denmark's Statens Serum Institut (SSI) reported on Friday 1,660 new COVID-19 infections and a further 30 deaths in the past 24 hours. To date, the country has registered 178,497 COVID-19 cases and 1,517 deaths, according to the SSI.
As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.
Meanwhile, 235 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 63 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization on Jan. 6.
