[ad_1]
On Wednesday, the government announced that test certificate requirements will be introduced starting Saturday for all foreign nationals over the age of 18. The decision was made at an additional government meeting on Thursday.
The negative covid test must have a maximum of 48 hours at the time of entry and Swedish citizens must also undergo the test when they arrive in Sweden. People who cannot present a negative test can turn around at the border, as there are no service facilities there, Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (S) explained on Wednesday.
But some of those who are exempt from the requirement are people under the age of 18 and people who have family or humanitarian reasons, such as asylum seekers.
Swedish democrats at the fore Now a strong criticism of the regulations that asylum seekers are exempt from the government’s requirement of a negative coronation test to enter the country.
Party leader Jimmie Åkesson believes the rules will be ineffective. On his Facebook page, he writes that the exceptions that can be made must be “well balanced.”
“Excluding a large group of people, often people who have unknown backgrounds and an itinerary behind them, is asking for ongoing and difficult problems with the uncontrolled spread of infection.”
– I am critical of the fact that we have asylum immigration in the pandemic. That we then also exclude people who may very well bring mutations of this infection to Sweden, I think it is very serious, he tells DN.
Åkesson believes that the government he should have realized that asylum immigration would already stop this spring.
– It is a reasonable first measure in the event of a severe pandemic when we all have to reduce our trips. I think the new requirement is basically good, but of course it should apply generally to everyone who wants to enter the country. If you don’t enforce some form of mandatory quarantine now, I think that’s a very strange way to handle it, he says.
Do you think it is reasonable to judge refugees on the same grounds as others?
– I think it’s definitely reasonable. Many of the asylum seekers are also unable to prove their identity. This means that you are not sure where they come from and who they are. It is even more important that they do not bring any infection to Sweden and, in particular, any mutation of the coronavirus that we are fighting with full force.
How does this rhyme with the Dublin Regulation and Sweden’s international commitments that mean that the country must provide humanitarian aid to asylum seekers?
– According to the Dublin Regulation, Sweden is not the first safe country for these people. There are many countries before you go to Sweden where you can later apply for asylum.
– We want strict enforcement and have no asylum immigration at all as long as it is not from any local area. But that in this situation you still have asylum immigration to Sweden and that later you do not require a test or a mandatory quarantine, I think it is irresponsible.
Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (S) declines to comment on SD’s criticism.
But Damberg’s press secretary Per Strängberg says the entry ban and proof requirement will apply to all countries and foreign nationals over 18 years of age. The exceptions have been developed so that the requirements work in practice and do not become a paper product.
– This involves, for example, ensuring that vaccine transports and healthcare-related travel work. There is also an exception for people who need international protection. For those people, the Swedish Public Health Agency’s recommendations on quarantine and testing to prevent the spread of infection apply, he says.
Read more: The government introduces a requirement for a negative covid test upon entry
