It could have been so beautiful: a relaxed summer cruise in the widely ramified, well-protected and this summer - in contrast to the German Baltic Sea coast - for once very empty area of the western Swedish archipelago. YACHT author Leon Schulz, who has known his way around this fascinating labyrinth of rocks for 40 years, has described two dozen of his favourite places and provided numerous tips(YACHT 14/2020, available from Wednesday in magazine shops and as a Digital edition available).
However, the situation has now changed unexpectedly since the editorial deadline. The Federal Foreign Office is warning against travelling to Sweden because the number of coronavirus infections there has recently risen sharply. It is still possible to travel freely in the country itself and there is no obligation to wear a mask, for example. However, when travelling back to Germany, there is a risk of isolation at home.
Since the beginning of this week, several federal states have issued quarantine regulations for people returning to Sweden, among others. Anyone returning from the country must inform the health authorities and stay at home for a fortnight. Unless you can present a negative coronavirus test. As of today, this exception applies in Schleswig-Holstein, Hamburg, Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania, Saxony and Berlin, but not in Brandenburg, Lower Saxony* and Bavaria.
The exception rule: If you have a medical certificate (test result) in German or English after returning from a risk area, which confirms that there is no evidence of infection with the coronavirus, you do not have to go into isolation. The medical certificate must not have been issued more than 48 hours before entering the Federal Republic of Germany and must be kept for at least 14 days after entry. The exception does not release you from the obligation to inform the responsible health authority after your return journey. Please note: The exemption from home isolation only applies if you do not show any symptoms that indicate an illness with Covid-19. If symptoms occur within 14 days of entering the country, contact the responsible health authority immediately. They will coordinate the next steps with you.
However, those living in North Rhine-Westphalia, for example, are not affected by this returnee regulation. The corona-related entry regulations have been suspended there. However, this can change on a daily basis. If you want to sail to Sweden in the coming weeks, it is therefore best to find out about the current returnee regulations in your federal state or, even better, from the health authority in your district.
An overview of the current coronavirus situation in the various regions of Sweden can be found at here. The map and data shows the weekly spread of the virus. It shows that metropolitan regions such as Stockholm, where many people live, are particularly affected. However, the virus has also spread disproportionately on the west coast of Sweden recently. However, this is also due to the fact that more tests have been carried out recently. In contrast, the number of cases is comparatively low in sparsely populated areas such as Höga Kusten (see travel report in YACHT 12/2020) in north-east Sweden.
The Swedish Tourist Board has reacted and, as a result of the German returnee regulation, is currently pointing out that holidaymakers in Sweden can be tested before returning to Germany in order to avoid quarantine at home. However, such a negative test is subject to a fee and is only possible in Swedish private clinics, but not at the Vårdcentralen, the public health centres.
Hamburg also points out that tests for Covid-19 can also be carried out without the presence of symptoms. However, there is no obligation for doctors to test without presenting symptoms. There is therefore no entitlement to a "negative test". And the costs would also have to be borne by the person tested.
You should also not rely on being able to successfully challenge the new quarantine regulations in court. Individual travellers have succeeded in doing so on several occasions in recent weeks - but only because at that time there were still blanket regulations in the coronavirus decrees of the federal states. However, these have now been amended and could now also stand up in court.
Conversely, Swedish holidaymakers will be allowed to travel to ten European countries again from the end of June. Germany and Sweden's neighbours Denmark, Norway and Finland are not among them, but Spain, Italy and Greece are, as these countries have opened their borders to travellers from Sweden.
*Addendum: On Friday, 19 June 2020, Lower Saxony announced new relaxations from Monday, 22 June 2020, including the possibility of exempting oneself from the quarantine obligation after returning from a risk area by means of a negative test.
