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Of: TT
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Photo: JOHAN NILSSON
One of the British Airways Airbus A319 aircraft on its way to land at Arlanda airport. Stock Photography.
The government will impose a travel ban from the UK following the discovery of a new strain of the coronavirus in the country.
Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (S) says a formal decision will be made on Monday, when the ban will also be introduced. But the forms surrounding the ban are unclear.
– We are preparing a decision on a travel ban from the UK. It should be able to take effect as soon as possible, Damberg tells SVT News.
The decision is made in light of the discovery of a new strain of the coronavirus in the country that is said to be more contagious.
Johan Carlson, CEO of the Swedish Public Health Agency, believes the travel ban is a reasonable precaution in the situation that has arisen, writes on the agency’s website.
On Monday, the authority will supplement the government’s decision with rules for those arriving from the UK in the near future after all, i.e. Swedish citizens who cannot be denied entry, and for those who have already arrived in Sweden recently.
Discovered in Denmark
According to the Swedish Public Health Agency, it is too early to say if the new virus mutation is more contagious, despite reports of up to a 70 percent increase in infectivity.
“The new variant already exists in several EU countries and it is not entirely impossible that it already exists in Sweden, but we have not yet been able to confirm it,” writes Johan Carlson.
The mutation has also been discovered in Denmark, where there are currently nine confirmed cases, Danmarks Radio reports.
Since September
“This variant, VUI 202012/01, which is now being noticed in the UK, has not currently been found in Sweden, but the Swedish Public Health Agency continues to check virus samples and monitors for the presence of VUI 202012/01.” says Karin Tegmark Wisell, head of department of FHM, in a writing comments and continues:
“According to the European Infection Control Agency, ECDC, some or a few isolated cases of the virus variant have also been reported in Denmark, the Netherlands and Belgium.”
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell claims the mutation has been in the UK since September and has become more common in recent weeks.
In Sweden, the B.1.177 virus variant will dominate from October, which is the variant that has been most common in Europe as of August.
Flight lands tonight
SAS Sweden press manager Freja Annamatz says the airline has yet to make a decision on whether flights from the UK will be canceled.
– We have a flight tonight landing from UK, and then we’ll see how it progresses and evaluate it. But what we do is follow the travel restrictions that come, and that in the long run means we will probably have to cancel trips, says Annamatz.
Swedavia, which operates Arlanda Airport, among other places, has not yet been informed of new restrictions and therefore does not take any special measures for flights from the UK, the company’s press service reported to TT.
In Italy, the Health Ministry claims that a person who flew back from the UK tested positive for the new mutation of the virus, reports the daily la Repubblica. Italy, like many other European countries, stopped traveling from Britain on Sunday.
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