Covid: Top Swedish official under fire for Christmas holiday in Canary Islands

Dan Eliasson made trip after Swedes told to avoid unnecessary travel

Dan Eliasson, General Director at Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency gives a press conference on the coronavirus COVID-19 situation at the government's headquarters in Stockholm, Sweden, in March (AFP/Getty)

Sweden’s head of its civil contingencies agency has been criticised for travelling to the Canary Islands for a Christmas holiday at a time when all Swedes were urged to avoid travel to stop the spread of coronavirus.

Dan Eliasson, who was involved in the country’s coronavirus response, defended the two-week trip as necessary “for family reasons”.

He faced backlash from the Swedish public after he was photographed in Las Palmas airport on the island of Gran Canaria.

Speaking to Swedish media, Mr Eliasson said he had “given up a lot of trips during this pandemic”, but deemed this Christmas trip necessary because he had a daughter living in the Canaries.

He told the Expressen newspaper: “I celebrated Christmas with her and my family”, adding that he had worked remotely while on the islands.

But Mr Eliasson’s trip did not go down well with the Swedish people or its government, with one government source telling the Aftonbladet newspaper: “There is hardly anyone who has not reacted to this… It shows a rare bad judgement.”

The Swedish government sent a text message to all Swedes last month asking them to read updated coronavirus guidelines, which includes advice for Swedes to avoid unnecessary trips and not to make new contacts during a journey or at the destination.

It came after the country saw a surge in Covid-19 infections and deaths, recording more than 8,000 deaths from the virus on 20 December. Sweden - which has always declined to impose a full lockdown - has recorded a total of 437,000 confirmed cases and 8,700 deaths.

It also emerged that Hans Wallmark, a Swedish MP, had also been to the Canary Islands for the Christmas holidays, in spite of the coronavirus guidelines in place.

He apologised on Facebook, writing that his wife “is down there and has worked from there” and he celebrated Christmas with her on the islands.

“Given the sacrifices of all other Swedes, there is every reason to consider on good grounds that I should have given up,” said Mr Wallmark. “I have not consulted my party leadership or anyone else about this trip in advance.

He said he did not violate “any rules or regulations” in either Sweden or Spain, but apologised for breaking “judgement and thus trust”.

A spokesperson for the Swedish Civil Contingencies (MSB) said in a statement to Aftonbladet: “We can confirm that Dan Eliasson has been to the Canary Islands, as he has now traveled from there. The assessment made by Dan Eliasson regarding the trip to the Canary Islands is that it was necessary for family reasons, and has to do with the fact that his daughter has lived there for some time. Otherwise, we have no comments today.”

Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has not yet commented on the matter, according to local reports.