Sweden Makes Negative COVID-19 Test Results Obligatory for All Travellers

All persons wishing to enter Sweden’s territory will be required to present a negative result of the Coronavirus test upon their arrival.

The decision has been imposed upon a proposal of the Public Health Agency of Sweden in an effort to stop the spread of the new strains of the Coronavirus pandemic identified in many countries worldwide, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

Sweden’s government announced that if travellers do not present a document showing the negative results of the Coronavirus test, not older than 48 hours, they will be banned from entering.

The rules are not the same for persons travelling from a third country and those coming from the European Union or Schengen Zone. Different rules will also be applied for citizens of Denmark, the United Kingdom, and Norway.

“Today’s decision is important to reduce the influx of new variants of the virus that have been detected in several countries. According to the Public Health Agency of Sweden, there is considerable uncertainty surrounding the new variants, and even if they have now spread to some extent in Sweden, it is important that we take this step, which will reduce the risk of further spread,” Sweden’s Minister for Home Affairs Mikael Damberg pointed out.

Sweden’s authorities announced that the decision will be put in place on February 6 and will last until March 31.

Earlier this month, Sweden introduced new exceptions to the entry bans imposed for citizens coming from the United Kingdom, Denmark, and Norway.

Swedish Ministry of Justice stressed that from February 1, additional categories of passengers would be exempted from the bans imposed previously on the countries mentioned above in a bid to stop the rapid spread of the pandemic.

Last month Sweden’s government imposed a ban on entry for citizens coming from Norway amid the spread of contagious new strains of the virus identified in some parts of Norway.

The country previously also applied changes to the entry bans imposed for Britons and Denmark citizens to prevent the further spread of the disease.

Sweden has registered a total of 580,916 Coronavirus cases of infections, and 11,939 persons have died up to this point.