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“Sweden is no longer one of the countries with the highest number of infections in Europe, it is now one of the countries with the fewest number of infections in other countries,” Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told a news conference. last week.
According to the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), there were 12 new cases per million people a week in Sweden. In Denmark, there were 18 cases per million inhabitants, and in Norway, 14, according to telegraph.co.uk.
Currently, two or three people die from COVID-19 in Sweden every day. At the height of the pandemic, around a hundred people died a day in mid-April.
Stockholm, the center of the Swedish pandemic in April and May, had the lowest number of new cases since March last week.
Recently, a test was carried out in Sweden on 2,500 randomly selected people, none of whom were infected with the new coronavirus. At the end of April, 0.9 percent were infected, and at the end of May, 0.3 percent.
“We interpret this as the fact that the infection is not currently prevalent among asymptomatic people,” Karin Tegmark Wisell, Tegnell’s deputy at the Swedish Public Health Agency, said Thursday.
The current situation, which is positive, is something of a relief for lawyers, who have received much criticism for Sweden’s relatively mild novel coronavirus strategy, who had to defend their position in May, when the country had the death rate by COVID-19 highest in the world.
Unlike Denmark and Norway, Sweden did not officially declare quarantine and all educational institutions, bars, restaurants, shops and offices were operating during the pandemic. The Swedish Public Health Agency, which has chosen such a strategy, has decided that it is better to trust people’s awareness of safe distance and self-isolation than to impose restrictions that disrupt normal life.
“Now that we see that the strategy we have chosen is really effective in the long term, we will finally get positive results. Now we expect those good results to be stable, “said A. Tegnellis.
In Sweden, the situation with the new coronavirus is improving, while in European countries, where a strict quarantine has been introduced but has now been lifted, the number of new cases is increasing again. In addition, in the old continent, any new or unrestricted restrictions on the coronavirus are facing increasing resistance, so returning to a quarantine regime can be a particularly difficult decision in political terms.
Speaking on Swedish television, Mr. Tegnell expressed the opinion that the honorable Swedes, who were advised to isolate themselves and avoid contact with their children and grandchildren, could already celebrate Christmas with their families.
Anders Tegnellis
“I think there is hope that we can celebrate Christmas more normally than we thought some time ago,” said the Swedish chief epidemiologist, but added that he advises families to “think very responsibly” and make sure that ” keep a safe distance, possibly meet in more spacious places.
In Sweden, a total of 5,000 people died from the new coronavirus. 832 people, more than six times more than Denmark (264) and Norway (626) combined. Furthermore, Sweden still has fewer COVID-19 tests than Denmark and Norway, with around 1.2 tests per thousand people at the end of August, compared to 2.2 in Norway and 5.9 in Denmark.
Soren Riis Paludan, a professor at the University of Aarhus in Denmark who specializes in viral infections, says the recent surge in new cases in Denmark is due to increased test volumes. According to him, it is still too early to assess to what extent acquired immunity can benefit Sweden.
“If the public immunity percentage remains weak, the benefits are small. Compared to Norway and Denmark, where there are fewer cases, this can help. Now we have to wait, and then we will see if the difficult period Sweden has had to go through it will help in the future, ”says SR Paludan.
However, there are still doubts about Sweden’s initial hope that a less stringent strategy to combat the new coronavir will help the country’s population gain greater immunity.
On Thursday, the Swedish Public Health Agency released the results of new antibody tests on donor blood. They revealed that statewide, antibody levels have been growing slowly since March, reaching about 7 percent in late June. of the total population, in Stockholm this figure has approached 12%.
In the most severe suburb of Stockholm affected by the coronavirus, Kinkeby Kista, out of a population of 530 in the age group 16 to 69, who agreed to get tested for antibodies, antibodies were detected in 18 percent. investigated.
Tegnell said the difficulties in finding a representative group for antibody testing have made evaluating public immunity “a particularly difficult task.”
“The most important thing we are seeing now is the decline in the number of new cases, and one of the explanations of such gratifying statistics is that an increasing proportion of the population is gaining immunity,” telegraph.co.uk quoted the expert as saying.
“Clear sign”
According to Espen Nakstad, vice president of the Norwegian Health Directorate, Sweden will soon be able to enjoy controlling the spread of the virus.
“This is a very clear sign that the Swedish people are doing a lot of things wisely, maintaining the required safety distance, respecting hygiene requirements and trying to prevent the virus from spreading,” Nakstad told NRK.
It is important to emphasize that Swedish hospitals treat more COVID-19 patients than Norway.
In Norway, the number of new infections has increased recently, but experts say this has happened as a result of increased testing. Currently, 80,000 COVID-19 tests are performed in the country per week. people, post thelocal.no.
Statistics on the new coronavirus deteriorated last week in Norway, where there have been two outbreaks of local importance, in Bergen and Estfold, the NRK acknowledged to E. Nakstad.
“If we reject those outbreaks, it is safe to say that the numbers in Norway are relatively small and stable,” he said, adding that it was very important to detect and neutralize local outbreaks of the virus.
Comparing the number of infections in Norway and Sweden is one of the most escalating topics in the Norwegian media. This interest is due to the different strategies chosen by the two neighboring countries to combat the new coronavirus.
This week 642 new cases of COVID-19 were diagnosed in Norway. Currently, 15 patients with COVID-19 are treated in hospitals in the country. Since the start of the pandemic, Norway has lost 264 people to the new coronavirus.
Anders Tegnellis
“We will do everything possible to avoid quarantine”
At the time, Denmark, which was one of the first in Europe to stop its economy and close its borders, saw 317 new cases per day, the highest growth in the country since early April, Bloomberg reports.
“We will do everything possible to avoid the strict quarantine that began on March 11. At that time, it was the most just and necessary solution. It would not be wise to repeat this now,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said on Thursday.
Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Tegnell has long argued that the new coronavirus will not be overtaken by a sudden strict quarantine. According to him, the virus can live next to us for years, so a long-term strategy of adaptation to the new reality, long-term changes in human behavior; in other words, keeping a safe distance should become common practice.
Mr Tegnell told reporters in Stockholm on Thursday: “Our situation is quite different because we are not trying to somehow end the quarantine. We have followed the same measures, which may also be a factor as to why the coronavirus situation in our country is different from that of other countries ”.
Mr. Tegnell also hypothesizes that the Swedes have already acquired immunity to the new virus. According to him, “this is the reason why the spread of the virus in Sweden has recently become more difficult and slower than in countries where fewer people have been infected in the past.”
However, Sweden remains the country in its region where COVID-19 has claimed the highest number of victims so far. 100,000 Sweden’s population accounts for around 57 deaths, compared to 11 in Denmark and 5 in Norway.
Earlier, the threat of a new coronavirus appeared to have been successfully handled by Denmark, and the country’s strategy was presented as a model to follow. Unfortunately, when the restrictions began to relax, the Danes became too relaxed and began to ignore the safe distance.
The youth of the country felt especially free. This week, the government announced a further tightening of restrictions aimed at controlling local outbreaks of the virus.
Norway, which declared a quarantine in March, has also recently seen a growing number of new cases, with the country’s Prime Minister Erna Solberg warning that further measures may be necessary.
“It is time to rediscover discipline,” the Norwegian head of government told reporters on Thursday.
Tegnell warns Swedes not to think that the number of cases will continue to decline by themselves, urging them to continue to respect safe distance and hygiene.
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