The government is about to make a decision to introduce a travel ban from the UK following the discovery of a new strain of the coronavirus in the country.
Interior Minister Mikael Damberg (S) tells SVT News that a formal decision will be made tomorrow.
”"We are preparing a decision on an entry ban from the UK. It should come into effect as soon as possible," Damberg tells SVT.
The decision is made in light of the discovery of a new strain of the coronavirus in the country. The new cases of the virus strain VUI 202012/01 are confirmed by the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the Swedish Public Health Agency (FHM) told TT.
Johan Carlson, Director General of the Public Health Authority, believes that the travel ban is a reasonable precautionary measure in the situation that has arisen, he writes on the authority's website.
On Monday, the authority will supplement the government's decision with rules for those who will nevertheless arrive from the UK in the near future, that is, Swedish citizens who cannot be refused entry, and for those who have already arrived in Sweden recently.
According to the Public Health Agency, it is too early to say whether the new virus mutation is more contagious, despite reports of up to 70 percent increased contagiousness.
”"The new variant is already available in a number of EU countries and it is not at all ruled out that it is already available in Sweden, but we have not yet been able to confirm that," writes Johan Carlson.
SAS Sweden's press manager Freja Annamatz says that the airline has not yet made any decisions about whether flights from the UK will be canceled.
”"We have a flight tonight that lands from the UK, and then we'll see how it goes and evaluate it. But what we're doing is following the travel restrictions that are coming, and that means that we will most likely have to cancel trips," says Annamatz.
Swedavia, which operates Arlanda Airport, has not yet been informed of any new restrictions and is therefore not taking any special measures for flights from the UK, the company's press service told TT.
In Italy, the health ministry says a person who returned by plane from the UK has tested positive for the new virus mutation, reports the newspaper la Repubblica. Italy, like many other European countries, has stopped travel from the UK on Sunday.
Source: TT
