Sweden has met the criteria needed to be classed by Denmark as an 'open country' thanks to a low enough rate of infection, meaning that anyone may travel across the border if they can prove they have a worthy purpose.

The change was announced on Thursday but will first come into effect on Saturday August 1st.

This includes tourism, so that means permanent residents of Sweden can travel to Denmark if they can show, for example, proof of a hotel or tent pitch booking. This must be for a minimum of six nights.

Other 'worthy purposes' include work trips, transit, job interviews, studying, attending a funeral, or meeting a partner or close family member who is a resident of Denmark. For these trips there is no six-night requirement but you should bring documents that prove the purpose of your travel. More information is available from the Danish police.

Special rules still apply for border regions (Skåne and Halland), so that permanent residents of these regions can travel to Denmark regardless of purpose as long as they can prove their address.

Denmark also remains open to travel from Spain and Belgium, in contrast to Norway which made both countries 'red'. This is due to differences in how Denmark and Norway calculate the rate of infection to determine their travel criteria.

Denmark's travel criteria are updated weekly based on the rate of infection in the relevant countries, so if planning a journey it's important to check the latest information.

Another obstacle to Nordic travel was removed on July 30th as Sweden scrapped its recommendation to avoid travel to Denmark and Norway, as well as to Switzerland and the Czech Republic. Although these recommendations are not legally binding requirements, they have implications for things like travel insurance validity.