Today: Thursday, 5 December 2024 year

Sweden to ban travel from UK over new COVID-19 strain

Sweden to ban travel from UK over new COVID-19 strain

Sweden’ prime minister said on Sunday that the country is going to ban travel from the UK over concerns of a new corona strain.

To make the formal decision, the Swedish government is expected to discuss it on Monday. Additionally, Interior Minister Mikael Damberg confirmed to public broadcaster SVT that it will “come into force as soon as possible”.

Another two meetings are taking place in Brussels on Monday – one involving health ministers and another with the EU’s crisis response team. But no decision is expected until Tuesday, when EU ambassadors meet.

According to the Swedish SVT, the ban reportedly applies to travel by car, ferry and flight. It is still unclear at this stage whether or not Swedish citizens, who cannot be stopped from entering the country, will have to quarantine on arrival.

The UK reports the rising number of COVID-19 cases

While the UK PM Boris Johnson has presented the new health restrictions in London and South East England on Saturday, Sweden prefers to halt the flights from Britain.

Sweden is now also banning travel from the UK to Sweden, the details will be available on Tuesday. Meantime, other EU nations like Belgium, Bulgaria and Italy followed suit, with Italy banning all flights from the UK and the entry of anyone who had been in the UK in the last 14 days.

France, Germany and Ireland have also announced they will suspend British flights.