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Sweden to End Pandemic Measures, Stop Classifying Covid as ‘Generally and Socially Dangerous’

  The Swedish government is set to repeal its Pandemic Act by the end of the month and starting in April, the country will no longer classif...

 The Swedish government is set to repeal its Pandemic Act by the end of the month and starting in April, the country will no longer classify the Wuhan virus as a “generally and socially dangerous” disease.

Social Affairs Minister Lena Hallengren announced that the government will be repealing the Pandemic Act by submitting a motion to end measures to the Swedish parliament — something the legislature, known as the Riksdag, had already asked the government to do.

“Our assessment is that it is possible to abolish the law. If we had judged that it was not, we would have had a new discussion with the Riksdag,” Minister Hallengren said.

The government is also sceptical that it will need such laws even if there is a new wave of coronavirus infections in the autumn, according to a report from broadcaster SVT.

“We do not currently envision reintroducing restrictions in the way that we have experienced on and off for two years. But if we find ourselves in such a situation, we will have to pass a new law,” Hallengren said. 

As a result of Sweden looking to declare the Wuhan virus no longer socially dangerous, people who contract it will not be required to seek out medical advice and there will be no obligation to quarantine or isolate.

There will be exceptions within the healthcare system, where any cases detected will be tracked and reported.

Last month, Sweden was one of the several European countries to announce that it would be scrapping various coronavirus restrictions, including its vaccine passport, which had been put in place only a few months prior.

Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson stated that a better understanding of the coronavirus combined with high rates of vaccination among the general public had led to her government’s move to scrap the restrictions.

Some countries, such as Italy, still maintain their much stricter coronavirus health pass systems, but have shown signs that they too could be ending them in the near future, with Italian prime minister Mario Draghi announcing last week that the government would allow the coronavirus state of emergency to expire and said the health pass system would be gradually phased out.