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Anders Tegnel, the main Swedish epidemiologist who devised the strategy to combat the coronavirus, said that the introduction of new measures for Stockholm cannot be ruled out, after around 1,200 new infections and five deaths were registered in the country in the last five days, compared to around 200 cases a day in recent weeks.
– We are talking with Stockholm about whether measures should be introduced to reduce the spread of the infection. We will see exactly what will happen in the next few days – said Tegnel.
He stated that the average number of new infections is growing, but added that this has not yet affected health care, because the number of new cases and the number of deaths is “very low.”
The announcement came just hours after Stockholm city authorities warned that the downward trend in the number of cases in the region was “broken.”
– We can only hope I’m wrong and the spread starts to slow down again. That depends on how well we follow the guidelines, said Stockholm health and medical services director Bjorn Eriksson.
The Public Health Agency announced that the increase in the number of new cases cannot be explained only by the intensification of the tests, reports the “Daily Mail”.
The Swedish strategy, which emphasizes personal responsibility rather than strict restrictions and lockdowns, has come under harsh criticism following a large number of deaths in the country during the spring, but WHO officials have also praised it for its model. sustainable.
Sweden has so far reported 5,870 deaths since the start of the pandemic, much more per capita than its neighbors, but also below countries like Spain and Italy that have opted for very strict measures and blockades.
The number of infected people in the country has been steadily declining since June and did not experience the sudden jump at the end of the summer that was seen across Western Europe.
These figures have fueled claims that Sweden has managed to achieve some sort of herd immunity with its controversial method, but the situation in Stockholm appears to be beginning to change.
The rate of positive tests in the capital relative to the total number of tests jumped from 1.3 to 2.2 percent. The positive test rate is a sign that the epidemic is growing, as long as the number of tests carried out remains the same, as is the case in Stockholm.
At the height of the crisis, the Stockholm region recorded some 240 cases a day. That dropped to less than 100 in early July, but has now started growing at an average of around 44 a day, compared to around 30 in two weeks.
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