It was not clear how long the suspension would be in place or if all local mayors would follow the recommendation.

“Of course, this is a sad situation for those who now have to wait to become Danish citizens,” Mattias Tesfaye, the country’s immigration and integration minister, said in a statement. “But we take the health authorities’ recommendation seriously. In this situation, we as a society must show unity to limit the spread of infection.”

Local officials in Denmark hold at least two naturalization ceremonies each year, the conclusion of a lengthy process for thousands of people in which the requirements include having residence for up to nine years, passing tests on the Danish language, politics, history and society, and being financially self-sufficient.

Some mayors have circumvented the handshake law by having both male and female officials take part in the ceremonies. “It’s against my ideology and conviction to have to force other people to have body contact,” Thomas Andresen, the mayor of Aabenraa, a town near the border with Germany, told The New York Times in 2018.

For many, the postponement recommendation this past week was the latest incongruity in a law that they have found exclusionary.

“It’s absurd,” said Peder Hvelplund, a socialist and green lawmaker, said in an interview. “The path to Danish citizenship should be about inclusion, not exclusion.”

The delay could deprive some of their citizenship, Mr. Hvelplund added, because children under 18 who could have become Danish through their parents’ naturalization would most likely have to start over if they aged out.