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Covid infection is increasing in 17 of Sweden’s 21 regions, among them Uppsala, Stockholm and Skåne are on the rise rapidly. In the last 24 hours, 2,128 new people have been confirmed infected in the country, the highest number since the pandemic began.
Chief physician Johan Styrud, president of the Stockholm Medical Association, is concerned about the development. It demands that the government and the Swedish Public Health Agency quickly tighten restrictions and lift the relief that has been introduced.
“Very high level again”
– We are going in the wrong direction. At the end of the summer, we had reduced to almost zero cases of covid in the hospitals and now we have a very high level again, says Johan Styrud.
– We have to reduce from 300 to 50 people allowed in crowds again. And we must tighten the screws in nursing homes and only allow visits from those closest to us.
– We have to go back properly and reboot, he says.
He points out that Sweden is not yet in a second wave, but with the increasing spread of the infection, we run the risk of ending up in that situation. And he says that a new compilation of 131 countries shows that population size is an important factor in keeping infection low.
Pressure on hospitals is increasing
According to Styrud, he was correct when they did so to ease restrictions and allow 300 people in the crowd and free nursing home visiting freely. But today it is “completely wrong” and you have to “adapt the measures to the situation,” he says.
He explains that the pressure on hospitals is increasing again. And that even if you’re not in the same awkward situation as last spring, the trend is “very worrying.”
In Stockholm, 2,966 new cases were reported during week 43, a large increase compared to 1,657 new cases the previous week.
There are no municipalities in Stockholm
However, it has not been decided whether local restrictions will be introduced in the capital, Maria Rotzén Östlund, acting doctor for infection control in the Stockholm region, tells Dagens Nyheter.
– The introduction of local general advice can be a tool to reduce the spread of infection in Stockholm. It can act as an alarm clock, and anything that works is positive. It is about letting the population know that the pandemic is still there, no matter how boring and horrible it may feel, he tells the newspaper.
