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The epidemiologist who led Sweden ’s controversial COVID-19 response , which did not postulate a strict lockdown , now says that the country should have done more to stop the spread of the virus , according to news story .
" If we were to function into the same disease , jazz just what we know about it today , I think we would end up doing something in between what Sweden did and what the rest of the world has done , " Anders Tegnell , the state epidemiologist of the Public Health Agency of Sweden , told Swedish Radio on June 3 , grant toReuters .
Anders Tegnell, the state epidemiologist of the Public Health Agency of Sweden, at a press briefing in April 2020
As compared with other countries in Europe , Sweden took a relatively relaxed approach to COVID-19 by take not to establish strict lockdown policies , NPR reportedin April . With no mandatory quarantine in shoes , museum , bars , restaurants , gyms , center , schools and nightclub remained undecided while occupier were encouraged to follow guidelines for personal hygienics and social distancing .
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Health officials also banned gatherings of 50 or more people , urge that residents avoid nonessential travel and promote those over years 70 to continue home as much as possible . In late March , Sweden prohibited occupier from chaffer nursing plate , but the measure did not forbid the virus from reaching older charge facilities throughout the country .
As of June 4 , Sweden has reported more than 4,500 demise associated with the computer virus , according to theJohns Hopkins computer virus splasher , and about half of those deaths occurred among older people survive in breast feeding dwelling , Reuters reported .
The trend had already egress in April , when Sweden ’s embassador to the U.S. , Karin Ulrika Olofsdotter , told NPR , " Once we know how the virus got into our elderly care facilities , the governance can make recommendations and take measures to seek to stop that , because that is the biggest tragedy of all this , that it has gotten into the nursing abode . " Now , more than a calendar month afterwards , breast feeding homes still comport the brunt of Sweden ’s COVID-19 last .
" We have to admit that when it come to elderly care and the spread of infection , that has not influence , " Prime Minister Stefan Löfven told Swedish newspaper The Aftonbladet Daily , according to Reuters . " Too many old people have kick the bucket here . "
In former May , Sweden ’s overall COVID-19 mortality pace was judge at 39.57 expiry per 100,000 residents ; at the same time , the U.S. mortality rate was estimated at 30.02 deaths per 100,000 residents , accord toNPR . Norway and Finland , both bordering Sweden , instituted stricter lockdown measuring stick than their neighboring country , and at the time , each had fewer than six COVID-19 deaths per 100,000 residents .
The enquiry group Ourworldindata.org now count on that Sweden has the 8th high number of coronavirus - related death per capita , Reuters reported .
Upon setting their COVID-19 strategy , Swedish officials include Olofsdotter predicted that the country might reach so - called herd exemption before countries under lockdown , according toNPR . Herd resistance touch to a point at which so many people gain immunity to a virus , either through natural infection or vaccinations , that the overall danger of new infections becomes very depressed . With too few people to infect , the computer virus can no longer spread apace .
Without an approved vaccinum , experts estimate that 60 % of the population would have to become infected and recover from COVID-19 to reach ruck exemption — assuming that every infection grant robust immunity that does n’t chop-chop wane through time , NPR report . However , an antibody survey conducted in Stockholmsuggested that fewer than 7.5 % of the city ’s resident had been exposed to the virus as of mid - May .
With ruck immunity on the distant skyline , and well-nigh 41,900 confirmed case so far in the nation , Tegnell said he still support by Sweden ’s original COVID-19 scheme .
" We continue to believe the scheme is estimable but then there are always improvements one can make , especially if you seem back over prison term , " he said during a news show briefing , grant to Reuters . " It would be strange if you give a different answer to that motion . "
On the other helping hand , Bjorn Olsen , a professor of Infectious Medicine at Uppsala University , call the strategy " one of Sweden ’s biggest embarrassments and most tragic events " in an audience with Reuters . " As long as mass are dying , we must adjudicate to switch . "
Tegnell did say that , in hindsight , Sweden should have conducted much more far-flung diagnostic examination and preferably , Reuters reported . Olsen echo this point and contribute that the res publica should expand its capacity for contact tracing , to go after and insulate new casing of infection before they scatter .
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