Mandatory health checks for people travelling to Sweden from affected areas, along with clearer powers to restrict large events, are among the new infection-control laws the government is proposing. The measures are aimed at making the country better prepared for future pandemics.
The purpose of the proposals, which the government is submitting to the Legislative Council, is to ensure Sweden is not caught off guard again. “What we learned during the pandemic are lessons we must not forget,” Minister of Social Affairs Jakob Forssmed said at a press conference.
Under the plans, the government would be able to introduce restrictions to prevent the spread of infection by limiting the number of visitors at gatherings. It would also be possible to decide on health checks for people travelling into Sweden from affected or nearby areas, giving authorities tools to slow the arrival of a new outbreak at the border.
According to the bill, it would additionally become possible to move or isolate people in nursing homes, a measure that reflects one of the hardest-learned lessons of the last pandemic, when elderly residents proved especially vulnerable.
The proposed law is set to enter into force on April 1, 2027. By putting the framework in place well ahead of any new health emergency, the government is seeking to avoid the improvised, and at times contested, decision-making that characterized the early response to the previous pandemic.
