“It is time to open up Sweden again,” Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said during a Feb. 3 press briefing. “While the pandemic is not over, it has entered an entirely new phase.
“The message today is therefore that restrictions are dropped from Feb. 9, and at the same time, we urge all employers who have staff working at home to plan for a gradual return to the workplace.”
Starting on Feb. 9, people will be allowed to dine at restaurants again with no limitations on how many of them can be inside or how much space there should be between them. The requirements for COVID-19 vaccine certificates and wearing face masks on public transportation also will be removed, as well as the recommendation to limit social contacts.
Andersson said the government is loosening its COVID-19 restrictions because of health officials having an improved understanding of the virus that causes the illness and a rise in the country’s vaccination rates.
“This allows us to open up society, not least to everyone vaccinated,” she said. “Looking ahead, infection rates will remain high for a while longer, but as far as we can judge, the worst consequences of the contagion are now behind us.”
Just hours after Denmark lifted restrictions, Norway followed suit by lifting its ban on serving alcohol after 11 p.m. and removing the 10-person cap on private gatherings.
