Sweden coronavirus deaths pass 4,000: health authorities

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  STOCKHOLM, May 25, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – Sweden, which has gained
international attention for its softer approach to the coronavirus
than many of its European neighbours, said on Monday its number of
deaths passed the 4,000 mark.

The Public Health Agency said it had recorded 4,029 deaths and
33,843 confirmed cases of the novel coronavirus in the country of some
10.3 million inhabitants, with 90 percent of the deceased over the age
of 70.

Sweden’s death toll has far surpassed the tolls in neighbouring
Nordic countries, which have all imposed more restrictive containment
measures.

According to website Worldometer, Sweden’s virus death rate of 399
per million inhabitants is far higher than Norway’s death rate of 43
per million, Denmark’s rate of 97, or Finland’s rate of 56.

However it is still lower than France’s 435, the UK’s and Italy’s
542, and Spain’s 615.

Critics have accused Swedish authorities of gambling with the lives
of citizens by not imposing strict stay-at-home measures. But the
Public Health Agency has insisted their more relaxed approach is
sustainable in the long-term and has rejected drastic short-term
measures as too ineffective to justify their impact on society.

The Scandinavian country has kept schools open for children under
the age of 16, along with cafes, bars, restaurants and businesses,
while urging people to respect social distancing and hygiene
guidelines.

State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell of the Public Health Agency has
repeatedly insisted that stricter measures would not have saved more
lives.

Three-quarters of Swedes who have died have been either in nursing
homes or receiving at-home care.

Tegnell noted that a ban on visits to nursing homes was introduced
in mid-March, but said elderly residents needed regular contact with
their carers — who were believed to have spread the virus around many
nursing homes.

“I’m really not sure that we could have done so much more,” he said
in a weekend interview with Swedish Radio, acknowledging nonetheless
that the country had ended up in a “terrible situation that highlights
the weaknesses of our elderly care.”  He said care homes had initially
failed to respect basic hygiene rules that could have curbed the
spread of the disease, but said the situation had since improved.