Source::AP
STOCKHOLM,
The Swedish government announced Wednesday that foreign citizens will have to provide a recent negative test for COVID-19 when entering Sweden as of Saturday. The announcement was made five days after the Public Health Agency requested tighter arrival controls to minimize the spread of mutated virus strains.
"These new virus variants are alarming," Prime Minister Stefan Lofven said when announcing the new rules at a digital press conference. "The background to this decision is the new variants of the virus that have been discovered recently, and the fact that it is difficult to assess which countries have a high prevalence of these variants."
Travelers under the age of 19, cross-border commuters, foreign citizens living in Sweden, and those who want to enter the country for humanitarian reasons are exempt from the new requirement, as are elite athletes. "Elite athletes are considered as a category that performs work, and may therefore cross the border (without a recent negative test)," said Minister for Home Affairs Mikael Damberg.
According to the latest update from the Public Health Agency of Sweden, 580,916 cases of COVID-19 had been confirmed in the country as of Wednesday, an increase of 4,310 since Tuesday. A total of 11,939 deaths had been recorded, 124 more than on Tuesday, whereas 245 patients were in intensive care.
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