Entrance stops from the UK and Denmark

A new variant of the coronavirus is spreading in the UK, according to Prime Minister Boris Johnson, it is significantly more contagious than the virus that has already claimed more than a million lives around the world.

On Monday, the government decided that Sweden, like several other EU countries, should introduce travel bans from the UK to try to prevent the virus from spreading. Travelers from Denmark, where some cases of the new virus mutation have been discovered, will also be detained.

– We do this to protect the staff who will need to spend their Christmas and New Years in hospitals and emergency rooms in Sweden, Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (s) said at Monday’s press conference with Foreign Minister Ann Linde (s) and the Director General of the Public Health Agency, Johan Carlson. .

Starting from the clock Monday 16, all UK passenger flights will be stopped for 48 hours. All those who have traveled from the UK to Sweden since 12 December are urged to remain in isolation at home for seven days and to test themselves on the first and fifth days. At midnight, entry bans for both the UK and Denmark will begin, which are expected to apply for a month.

Swedish citizens can continue to travel in and out of the country, but Foreign Minister Ann Linde advises against all unnecessary travel to the UK.

– A great responsibility falls on the individual traveler if they are still embarking on a trip.

As early as Sunday night, Mikael Damberg declared that the government would introduce an entry ban from the UK. But when DN’s reporting team visited Arlanda on Monday, flights from London landed as usual and passengers were able to leave the airport without any special measures. Several travelers expressed relief upon arrival.

– It was one last panic here. I was actually going to go on Wednesday, but I managed to rebook right now before something happens, says Fanny Kypengren, who traveled to Sweden for her sister’s wedding.

At the press conference received The government and the Director General of the Public Health Agency asked why more was not done to control those coming from the UK, for example through tests at the airport.

– It is important that you test yourself at your place of residence to enter the system and get rules on how to behave, says CEO Johan Carlson.

– The tests at the airport would only include a few, as many come via Denmark or by shipment.

According to the European Agency for the Control of Communicable Diseases, isolated cases of the mutated virus have also been detected in the Netherlands, Belgium and Italy. According to the authority, it is possible that the spread of the infection is also taking place outside the United Kingdom and the World Health Organization (WHO) has asked European countries to carry out greater controls. The Government and the Public Health Agency do not rule out that the new variant of the virus is already spreading in Sweden.

Sweden so far has not managed to keep the coronavirus out, neither in a first nor in a second wave, what hope do you have that we will be able to prevent this new variant?

– We do not know if it already exists in Sweden or if it exists in other European countries, but we have found that several countries have already reported that it exists there, says Mikael Damberg and emphasizes that the measures taken are to detect a possible spread of the infection. .

– So we are aware that if it turns out that this variant has spread in several European countries, and is found in other places, then the question is more complicated than if it only existed in the UK, says Mikael Damberg.

Johan Carlson says that the possibility of keeping the new variant outside Sweden’s borders is determined by how it has spread so far.

– If it has already spread across the EU, of course it is difficult. If the spread had started in the last week, the possibility is higher, says Johan Carlson.

You have previously posed risks when individual EU countries impose their own travel bans, do you see any risks with this decision?

– It is not an optimal situation where individual member states invent their own regulations in a short time, individually. So one argument why we are introducing this 48 hour ban on flights from the UK, which can be extended, is that we should have a more European attitude on this as well.

According to the Swedish vaccine coordinator, mass vaccination of Swedes will start at the beginning of the year. Johan Carlson, director general of the Swedish Public Health Agency, does not believe that vaccination will be affected by either the new variant of the virus or the travel bans.

– There is no indication that this variant cannot be managed with the available vaccines. The vaccination will continue as usual.