THE POSSIBILITIES OF KEEPING A PHYSICAL DISTANCE AND PROVIDING INFORMATION TO PEOPLE DEPRIVED OF THEIR LIBERT Y formation sheet regarding the restriction of visits. It contained brief information that the possibility of receiving visits had been limited. During the inspection of the detention centre in Märsta, it emerged that detainees were concerned that it was unclear to them what a placement in quarantine or segregation due to suspected Covid-19 would entail. There were also reports that detainees at the detention centre had had symptoms of Covid-19, such as a cough and fever, for several days but did not tell this to the staff or the nurse at the detention centre. At the closing dialogue meeting, the management of the Swedish Migration Agency stated that detainees had mainly received information orally during the residents’ meetings that were held every week in the detention centre. Like the National Board of Institutional Care and the National Board of Forensic Medicine, the Swedish Migration Agency used the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s information material to inform inmates concerning how they should act to reduce the risk of infection. The material is translated into a variety of languages. Parliamentary OmAn inmate hiding symptoms due to a lack budsman Per Lennerbrant emphasised the imporof information can lead tance of detainees being to serious consequences given all the relevant information concerning Covid-19. It is a necessity for the detainees to be able to both exercise their rights and take appropriate measures to protect themselves and others from infection. Like Parliamentary Ombudsman Thomas Norling and Parliamentary Ombudsman Katarina Påhlsson, Parliamentary Ombudsman Per Lennerbrant argued that information should first and foremost be provided in writing. He then stated the following:6 6 See the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s decision of 9 October 2020, ref. no. O 182020. – 5 “An example of the importance of providing correct information is shown from the details emerging that detainees at the detention centre in Märsta had not understood what a placement in a quarantine department actually meant and that they had not mentioned that they had symptoms of Covid-19. The fact that individual detainees choose to hide symptoms can have very serious consequences for themselves, fellow detainees and staff as well as the possibility of operating the detention centre in a safe manner. Due to this, I would urge the Swedish Migration Agency to produce written information material that clearly states how the agency acts in connection with suspected or confirmed outbreaks of Covid-19.” The National Board of Forensic Medicine In the Parliamentary Ombudsman’s questionnaire, patients in the National Board of Forensic Medicine’s examination divisions were asked, inter alia, about what information they had received from the agency regarding Covid-19. Of the patients who responded to the questionnaire, 39 per cent stated that they lacked some form of information and as many responded that they did not. Furthermore, 72 per cent of the patients who responded to the questionnaire stated that they did not know what measures the agency had taken to prevent the spread of infection. At the closing dialogue meeting, the management of the National Board of Forensic Medicine stated that patients should have access to the same information as everyone in society concerning Covid-19. The agency informed patients at the initial conversation upon arrival concerning the obligation to follow the Public Health Agency of Sweden’s recommendations, 37 –