Faroe Islands updates COVID-19 guidelines for travellers

View of the Vaga airport in the Faroe Islands in 2007. Testing upon arrival requirements in the region will be in effect until October 31. (Franck Fife/AFP/Getty Images)
The Faroe Islands has updated its COVID-19 guidelines for travellers with specific instructions for visitors from so-called “open countries.”

Testing upon arrival is still required for anyone arriving in the region, with a second test to be done six days afterwards in order to avoid false negatives.

Children under 12 are exempt. The testing requirements will be mandatory until October 31.

The Faroe Islands is an autonomous region within the Kingdom of Denmark. Denmark has divided countries into “open countries” or “banned countries” when it comes to COVID-19. The list is updated regularly based on the country’s infection rate and if it has fewer than 20 COVID-19 infections per 100,000 people.

Second test still recommended for “open country’ residents

Residents of “banned countries” are not permitted in the Faroe Islands unless it’s for specific reasons such as a funeral, visiting minor children, or delivering essential goods and services to the region.

Guidelines for people from “open countries” include maintaining strict social and physical distancing guidelines until results of the first test are available within 24 hours, said a news release on Monday.

The Faroese government is also strongly recommending visitors from open countries take a second test on the sixth day, which is also free or charge.

As of August 4, the Faroe Islands had reported 227 confirmed COVID-19 infections with 192 recoveries.

Write to Eilís Quinn at eilis.quinn(at)cbc.ca 

Related stories from around the North:

Canada: Presumptive case of COVID-19 reported at Diavik mine in Canadian Northwest Territories, CBC News

Greenland: Greenland prolongs COVID-19 assembly limits until 2021, Eye on the Arctic

Iceland: Iceland reinstates COVID-19 restrictions after spike in domestic infections, Eye on the Arctic

Norway: Climate change hits back at Svalbard, coal mine flooded by melting glacier in Norway, The Independent Barents Observer

Russia: Russia’s Murmansk region counts more COVID-19 cases than neighboring Norway or Finland, The Independent Barents Observer

Sweden: Swedish authorities tasked with preparing for second coronavirus wave, Radio Sweden

United States: Two Conoco employees in Alaska’s Arctic test positive for COVID-19, Alaska Public Media

Eilís Quinn, Eye on the Arctic

Eilís Quinn is an award-winning journalist and manages Radio Canada International’s Eye on the Arctic news cooperation project. Eilís has reported from the Arctic regions of all eight circumpolar countries and has produced numerous documentary and multimedia series about climate change and the issues facing Indigenous peoples in the North.

Her investigative report "Death in the Arctic: A community grieves, a father fights for change," about the murder of Robert Adams, a 19-year-old Inuk man from Arctic Quebec, received the silver medal for “Best Investigative Article or Series” at the 2019 Canadian Online Publishing Awards. The project also received an honourable mention for excellence in reporting on trauma at the 2019 Dart Awards in New York City.

Her report “The Arctic Railway: Building a future or destroying a culture?” on the impact a multi-billion euro infrastructure project would have on Indigenous communities in Arctic Europe was a finalist at the 2019 Canadian Association of Journalists award in the online investigative category.

Her multimedia project on the health challenges in the Canadian Arctic, "Bridging the Divide," was a finalist at the 2012 Webby Awards.

Her work on climate change in the Arctic has also been featured on the TV science program Découverte, as well as Le Téléjournal, the French-Language CBC’s flagship news cast.

Eilís has worked for media organizations in Canada and the United States and as a TV host for the Discovery/BBC Worldwide series "Best in China."

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