Sweden to Introduce COVID-19 Requirements on Travellers From China From January 7
The decision has been announced on January 5 by the country’s Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Social Affairs, following an EU recommendation to do so, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.
“The government has today decided to introduce temporary entry restrictions on travel from China. This means that travellers from China need to show a certificate of a negative covid-19 test in order to travel into Sweden. The test requirement comes into effect on January 7,” the Ministry pointed out in its statement announcing the measures.
The requirement will remain in place for three weeks, until January 28, and it is based on the recommendation by the EU Council, and the Public Health Agency of Sweden.
Exempt from the obligation will be travellers under the age of 12, those who have a Swedish residence permit, and long-term residents of the EU and EEA. Swedish citizens returning from China are exempt from the requirement as well.
Commenting on the new measures, the Minister for Social Affairs and Public Health, Jakob Forssmed, said that they are necessary due to the spread of Coronavirus in China.
“The aim is to delay the possible introduction of new variants of the virus, and thereby increase the possibility of taking measures and, in the longer run, reduce the burden on the Swedish health care system,” the Minister said.
Other European Union Member States have already imposed such restrictions on travellers from China, without waiting for an EU recommendation, following a surge in COVID-19 cases in the Asian country, since the same reopened its borders on December 7, 2022, after keeping them almost entirely closed for three years.
Italy was the first EU country to impose a COVID-19 test requirement on travellers from China on December 26, though the measures were officially announced two days later on December 28. During the outbreak of the pandemic in February 2020 in Europe, Italy was the first worst-hit country, with thousands of dead people by the end of spring due to the virus.
On December 31, 2022, Spain followed imposing the requirement on travellers from China too, while in France the new COVID-19 measures became effective on January 5, after the same announced them days earlier.
Witnessing these developments, Sweden, which holds the Presidency of the Council of the EU, has summoned a meeting on January 4, the Council’s crisis management mechanism Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) to discuss possible common EU-wide measures on travellers from China.
