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Sweden, which has adopted a more relaxed strategy against the covid-19 pandemic than the other Nordic countries, has already received an offer of help from its neighbors where the second wave is being much less severe.
A Norway and Finland offered help to the neighboring country and health officials say they are ready to offer medical help, although Sweden has not yet officially requested it.
The region of the capital Stockholm, where intensive care is already at 99% capacity, has already requested the intervention of the military and other regions of the country less affected by the second wave.
“We have not yet received an official request for assistance, but we are monitoring the situation daily and of course we are ready to help Sweden with whatever is necessary,” he said. Kirsi Varhila, secretary of the Finnish Ministry of Health, quoted by Financial Times.
Maria Jahrmann Bjerke, her Norwegian counterpart, recalls that the Nordic countries have a cooperation agreement in the field of health, so if “the Swedish authorities have asked us for help, we will have a positive attitude to do so.”
Unlike Sweden, where the second wave is putting enormous pressure on hospitals, Norway and Finland are among the European countries with the lowest infection rates.
In the last month, Sweden recorded 1,400 deaths due to COVID-19, which compares with around 100 in Norway and 80 in Finland, countries that have about half the population of their neighbors.
Pressure on intensive care unit (ICU) hospitals is mounting at a time when layoffs of health workers are accelerating. In the Stockholm region alone, there have been around 3,600 professionals since the start of the pandemic, well above the 900 in the same period last year.
Sineva Ribeiro, president of the Swedish association of health professionals, described the situation to Bloomberg as “terrible”. Even before the first wave, in March, there was a shortage of specialists in nursing and intensive care, Sineva Ribeiro warned.
This week the Swedish authorities had already described the situation in the country as “very serious”, but stressed that ICUs are capable of accommodating patients and are scalable.
Of the 21 Swedish regions, eight have reinforced medical personnel and, although none are in an extreme emergency situation, the situation is expected to worsen, according to data from the General Directorate of Social Affairs.
Sweden has been the most affected country in Scandinavia, despite remaining far from countries such as Spain, Italy, France or the United Kingdom. Its death rate of 71.65 per 100,000 population is five times higher than in Denmark and ten times higher than Norway and Finland.
In keeping with the tradition of autonomy for state agencies, the government adopted the strategy outlined by the FMH, with many recommendations calling for individual responsibility along with few prohibitions, but keeping schools, restaurants, bars and nightclubs open.
The appearance of the second wave caused a change in the Swedish strategy, with a more active role for the Government, which prohibited public gatherings of more than eight people, the sale of alcohol from 10 p.m. and set the closure of bars at 10:30 p.m. , restaurants and discos.
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