Sweden suspends the end of the year festivities and will again demand a PCR from tourists

The Nordic country, with an infection rate even lower than the rest of Europe, recommends teleworking and reducing social life to stop omicron

Sweden is following in the footsteps of its neighbor Denmark , which last Friday announced the closure of cultural and leisure life to cope with the rapid spread of the omicron variant of coronavirus. The Swedish health authorities do not go that far, but they do recover some of the restrictions lifted last September . Currently its incidence of infections is one of the lowest in Europe -329 cases per 100,000 inhabitants in 14 days , compared to 2,036 in Denmark.

Swedish Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson did not beat around the bush today and called on the population to “behave responsibly ” to avoid an increase in the health system. “The situation is worrying. The spread of the infection is increasing rapidly and we are seeing an increasing burden on medical care. The spread of the new variant of the omicron virus is worrying, “she acknowledged.

“I want to address the Swedish people now: we must assume joint responsibility and adapt to the new reality at this time,” said Andersson when announcing the implementation of new measures to “buy time.”

The Swedish Government recommends teleworking to all those who can. But plans to extend the covid certificate to places like restaurants and long-distance public transportation have been suspended, and Andersson said the scheme could be extended after more people have had the opportunity to receive a booster dose of the vaccine. coronavirus. From December 1, the certificate is required for events of more than one hundred people.

Starting this Thursday, restaurants must return to table service only, with one meter between groups of people. “That means, sadly, there will be no nightclub parties on New Year’s Eve,” Andersson said. Meanwhile, shopping malls and cultural and leisure centers will also need to introduce measures to limit overcrowding.

Public events with more than 20 attendees must have assigned seats, regardless of whether or not they use vaccine passes for admission. If the event organizers do not use vaccine passes, the groups must keep a distance from each other and be limited to eight people. Public events of more than 500 people must adopt all these measures, including passes of vaccines as well as limits to groups of people, and so on.

The Public Health Agency (FHM) has also advised the Social Democratic Government to introduce the following measures: a maximum of 50 people at private events held in rented venues , only passengers seated in long-distance public transport, and require foreign tourists vaccinated and unvaccinated older than 12 years show a CRP not older than 48 hours when traveling to Sweden.

The first two measures can only go into effect on December 24 due to legal processes. Andersson said the third request would be handled “quickly” but did not say when the new travel restrictions would go into effect.