Coronavirus from Sweden: Country records highest death toll in 150 years in first half of 2020

08/20/2020 Health


Between January and June this year, 51,405 deaths were recorded – more than 6,500 deaths (or 15%) over the same period in 2019.

This is the highest number of deaths in Sweden in the first half of the year since 1869, when the country was hit by famine and 55,431 people died.

The country also experienced the lowest population increase since 2005, with an abundance of 6,860 in 2020 that was less than half of the previous year.

Immigration figures saw a 34.7% reduction from the same period in 2019, with the figures falling first in the second quarter between April and June.

Unlike most countries, Sweden did not go into a lockdown when the pandemic spread across Europe in the early spring. Instead, the emphasis was on personal responsibility, with most bars, schools, restaurants and salons remaining open.
Despite the more relaxed approach, only 7.3% of people in Stockholm had developed the antibodies needed to fight the disease by the end of April – well below the 70-90% required for herd immunity.

In early June, the country’s death toll from coronavirus was more than 4,500. According to Johns Hopkins University, it now stands at 5,802.

Much of the criticism of Sweden’s response has focused on the high death rates in care homes. Sweden’s leading epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, acknowledged in June that the Public Health Agency “did not know there was such a great potential for the disease to spread in nursing homes, with so many deaths.”
Sweden did not go into lockdown when the pandemic spread across Europe in the spring and most places in the country's capital, pictured, remained open.

But he told the Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter: “There are things we could have done better, but overall I think Sweden has chosen the right path.”

In an interview with Christiane Amanpour of CNN in July, Tegnell defended the country’s approach again. “I think we still believe that the strategy has served us very well in many different aspects,” he said.

“I know the cause of death is very high. It’s not extremely high when you compare it to countries like Belgium, the Netherlands or the United Kingdom, which are countries that in many ways have a much more similar epidemic than our neighbor Nordic. countries.

“There is really no evidence that people have been rescued in long-term care facilities in Sweden.”

He said that when the authorities saw the problems in nursing homes, a lot of advice was given and things dropped quickly and were now almost at zero.

Sweden has also paid a heavy economic price, despite not being shut down. Hair and tourism companies told CNN they had taken a huge hit, and manufacturers were scrapped from international suppliers.

Nearly 50% of the country’s economy is largely built on exporting goods abroad, and the global crisis has destroyed international demand.

Sweden’s economy is forecast to lose hundreds of thousands of jobs by more than 5%.

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