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According to the British Guardian on the 16th (local time), the daily number of confirmed cases in Sweden dropped from 1,000 in June to 200 in August, and then continues to drop to an average of 108 in the first week of September. According to the European Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (ECDC), the cumulative new coronavirus confirmed per 100,000 inhabitants in Sweden during the last 14 days in Sweden as of day 15 was 22.2. This is significantly lower compared to 279 people in Spain, 158.5 people in France and 118 people in the Czech Republic. According to the ECDC, 22 out of 31 European countries, including the European Union (EU), the European Economic Area (EEA) and the United Kingdom, have a higher number of new coronavirus cases per 100,000 than Sweden.
Consequently, some argue that Sweden’s so-called “herd immunity” strategy is working.
The World Health Organization believes that if the group members’ antibody retention rate exceeds 70%, the corona epidemic can be prevented by the “herd immunity” effect. People with antibodies are not infected with corona, so if most people have antibodies, the corona epidemic can be prevented. Infectious disease experts from Korea report that “group immunization is possible if the antibody once formed through the vaccine lasts more than 10 months.”
Sweden has been known as a country that proves such herd immunity through the national media. Swedish health authorities did not officially use the term ‘herd immunity’, but this is because they followed relatively flexible quarantine guidelines, unlike European countries that entered the early lockdown of the coronavirus outbreak. Restaurants and cafes were allowed and no driving ban was imposed. Consequently, it was evaluated as the first country to attempt a “herd immunity” experiment.
With the recent rapid increase in the number of new coronavirus cases in Europe, in Sweden, the number of confirmed cases relative to population has not increased as much as in other countries and is constantly being managed.
However, experts analyze that this immunization strategy for natural populations is less effective. Myung-don Oh, professor of infectious medicine at Seoul National University School of Medicine, said: “There is no case where an infectious disease ends due to the formation of group immunity naturally without the development of a vaccine”. In addition, recently cases of corona reinfection have appeared all over the world, and as it is noted that the antibody retention period is at the level of 3 months, which is much less than 10 months, voices that herd immunity are gaining strength. it will be difficult to achieve before the vaccine is released.
Lee Jae-gap, professor of infectious medicine at Hallym University, said in a recent interview with this magazine, “Sweden has held out without a blockade, but so far around 6,000 of the population of 10 million have died. “If Korea adopts that model, it is estimated that 30,000 people will die.” Sweden is a country with the highest rate of cumulative confirmed cases and cumulative deaths per 1 million people since the coronavirus outbreak in Europe.
It is noted that Sweden is currently avoiding the rapid increase in corona patients in Europe, but the cause is not due to herd immunity but to “sustainable distance”. Sweden has banned gatherings of 50 or more people, and recommends high-risk groups over 70 to go into isolation.
Swedish crown quarantine officer Anders Tennell, head of Sweden’s Public Health Administration, said in an interview with broadcaster France 24 on the 11th: “The sustainable quarantine strategy in preparation for long-term war in the crisis of the crown it has made the difference “. He said: “Sweden has been grappling with the long-term perspective so that the medical system can handle the coronavirus outbreak,” he said. “It has maintained a quarantine strategy that can be maintained for a longer period of time than a lockdown, unravel and lockdown strategy if it is a pandemic again,” he said.
