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Since December 21, it is prohibited to transport passengers from the United Kingdom to Sweden due to the new mutation of the virus that has been discovered in the country.
Despite this, 33 people arrived in Arlanda on a British Airways plane on Saturday morning: 29 Swedish passengers and four Finnish nationals.
– It is a company that breaks the rules. I don’t know if they have misread, misinterpreted or what they have done, but there is no question what the provision means. In this case, the Swedish Transport Agency must now handle it towards this company, because it is simply an incorrect action of an airline, says Prime Minister Stefan Löfven (S) to DN.
Should the plane have landed?
– It is the authorities who have to handle such a situation. But there is no question: the decision that has been made is that it should not be allowed to do so. They have acted badly, this company. The Swedish Transport Agency can now handle it to the company.
Than the british plane According to the police, the passengers had not been notified in advance to the Swedish Transport Agency or the border police.
On Saturday, Patrik Engström, the head of the border police, said that Swedish citizens have the right to be allowed to enter their home country, so it was not relevant to force them to travel back to the UK. None of the people showed any visible symptoms, according to border police. The Stockholm Region infection control assessed that no airport testing or other specific measures were needed at that time.
– We contacted infection control doctors in the region who concluded that no action was necessary, said Patrik Engström.
The four Finnish citizens were also admitted to continue their journey to Finland. It was a family of children, all of whom had tested negative for COVID-19 before boarding the plane.
It depends on the people themselves to make sure the infection doesn’t spread further. Since Monday, the Swedish Public Health Agency has asked everyone who has traveled from the UK since 12 December to get tested immediately, stay home for at least seven days and have a new one. try the fifth day.
Stockholm Stockholm infection control doctor Maria Rotzén Östlund told DN on Saturday that all travelers from there are advised to stay home while they wait to be tested for the viral disease. The Swedish Public Health Agency has said that it does not want these types of people at airports and that it is safer to ask for isolation and tests at home.
Former state epidemiologist Annika Linde and Björn Olsen, a professor of infectious diseases, on Tuesday criticized the fact that travelers who came from the UK on Monday were not tested at airports. When DN asked the Public Health Agency on Saturday what is required to begin testing at airports, unit manager Sara Byfors responded:
– We have not seen it as an effective measure. You can be negative at that time and then develop symptoms and get sick when you return home because it is a certain incubation period. So at the moment we have no plans to test all participants in Sweden.
The Danish Transport Agency has contacted the British Civil Aviation Administration to find out why the passengers were released on board the plane.
– A flight ban must be followed and it is clear that we take this seriously, said press director Mikael Andersson on Saturday.
According to him, the temporary regulations decided by the government seem to have been mixed. One refers to the ban on flights between countries, the other to the ban on entry from the UK and Denmark into Sweden, with the exception of Swedish citizens.
On Saturday, DN reached out to British Airways, whose press department sent the following written comment:
“We recommend that all customers check the latest eligibility requirements for their destination on local authority websites before traveling as they may change on short notice.”
DN is looking to the Swedish Transport Agency and British Airways for further comment.
The text is updated.
Read more:
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