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Sweden garnered global attention earlier this year when it remained open for the first few months of the coronavirus pandemic, and is now holding out again, this time refusing to recommend wearing masks.
While most of the world has agreed to cover their noses and mouths in crowded places, people in Sweden run out of people, ride buses and subways, buy food, and go to school without a mask, with only a few souls left. are covered.
Public health officials argue that the masks are not effective enough to limit the spread of the virus to justify mass use, insisting that it is more important to respect the recommendations for social distancing and hand washing.
The Scandinavian country has the seventh highest death toll in the world at 575 per million inhabitants, mainly because it did not protect the elderly in nursing homes in the early stages of the pandemic.
Sweden never closed its schools, businesses, or cafes and restaurants, allowing the virus to circulate, and thus has had a consistently high level of community transmission.
But unlike many countries in Europe that are experiencing a resurgence of cases, such as France, the Netherlands, Germany, Belgium, Spain and Italy, the data for Sweden now seems to point in the right direction: down.
Its daily death toll peaked in April and has now dropped to a couple of deaths per day, the number of cases has been steadily declining since the beginning of June and its R number has practically stayed below 1 since the beginning of July.
Health agency CEO Johan Carlson said at a press conference on August 18 that there may be situations, such as doctor and dentist visits and on public transportation, where face mask recommendations could be issued. .
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency insists that scientific studies have not shown that masks are effective in limiting the spread of the virus, suggesting that they can do more harm than good if used carelessly.
“There are at least three heavyweight reports, from the World Health Organization, the ECDC and the Lancet report cited by the WHO, which state that the scientific evidence is weak. We have not carried out our own assessment.” said recently. reporters.
Meanwhile, Spain has registered more than 23,000 new cases of coronavirus since Friday, the head of health emergencies, Fernando Simon, said today at a news conference, suggesting that the infection rate had decreased slightly from a peak reached the week. previous.
Data from the Ministry of Health showed that 2,489 new cases were diagnosed in the last 24 hours, while the cumulative total of cases since the start of the pandemic reached 462,858.
Five people died last day, bringing the total death toll to 29,094, the data showed.
The latest statistics could be modified in the future, as Spain retroactively adjusts its daily data.
The UK recorded 1,406 confirmed daily cases of Covid-19, according to government data released today, up from 1,715 the day before.
Two people died within 28 days of testing positive for the disease, according to daily statistics, bringing the total death toll under that measure to 41,501.
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