ZCZC
BFF-29
HEALTH-VIRUS-SWEDEN-PANDEMIC
Stockholm sees lowest Covid-19 cases since March
STOCKHOLM, Sept 3, 2020 (BSS/AFP) – While many European countries are
seeing a surge in Covid-19 infection rates, Stockholm, the epicentre of
Sweden’s outbreak, has seen a steady decline and registered the fewest cases
since early March last week, officials said Thursday.
In the Swedish capital, 250 of 14,000 people tested last week were
infected with the virus, a positive rate of 1.8 percent.
Per Follin, department head at Stockholm’s Communicable Disease Control
and Prevention, said it was the “lowest level in a very long time.”
“We can’t really compare now and then” because widespread testing didn’t
get underway in Sweden until June, “but you could say since week 10 or 11,
possibly even earlier,” Follin told AFP in an email.
Before June, Stockholm tested only serious cases admitted to hospital.
The number of Covid-19 patients in intensive care is also currently low,
with six patients in Stockholm hospitals as of August 31 compared to 225 at
the end of April, the local health authority Region Stockholm said.
“The reason we have relatively low transmission now is largely due to the
fact that so many Stockholmers are following the recommendations to stay home
when you’re sick, wash hands and keep your distance,” Follin said in a
statement.
Sweden made headlines earlier this year with a high-profile refusal to
lock down, instead insisting on social distancing and hygiene
recommendations.
It has also refused to recommend the use of face masks, but has said
their use may be advised in future.
As of Thursday, Sweden had the world’s eighth-highest death toll at 577
per million inhabitants, mainly due to its failure to protect the elderly in
nursing homes in the early stages of the pandemic.
But Sweden’s data has been pointing in the right direction for a while.
Its daily death toll peaked in April and is now down to a couple of
deaths a day, while the number of cases have been in steady decline since
early June, and its R-number has largely held below 1 since early July.
Public health agency officials have said they don’t expect to see a large
virus resurgence in Sweden, where schools reopened in mid-August.
BSS/AFP/IJ/1845 hrs