Swedish Officials Claim That Virus Is Under Control

According to Bloomberg, new figures indicate that Sweden is rapidly bringing the coronavirus spread under control. Sweden had initiated its own path in preventing pandemic of using a “soft” approach — not locking down, introducing mostly voluntary restrictions and spurning the use of masks.

“That Sweden has come down to these levels is very promising,” state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell told reporters in Stockholm on Tuesday.

The Health Agency of Sweden says that since coming to peak in late June, the infection rate has fallen sharply. That’s amid an increase in testing over the period. “The curves are going down and the curves for the seriously ill are beginning to approach zero,” Tegnell said.

No Face Mask

Tegnell also addressed the subject of face masks. “With numbers diminishing very quickly in Sweden, we see no point in wearing a face mask in Sweden, not even on public transport,” he said.

At the same time,as many countries faced renewed second waves, Tegnell called those developments “worrying.”

“The positive trend is reversing, with an increase in the number of cases in Spain, Romania and Belgium, among others,” he said.

Earlier, Many argued that Sweden’s light-approach towards the pandemic was to make herd immunity , where large numbers of the population (preferably younger) are infected and thereby develop immunity.

However,several authorities, including the World Health Organization, had criticized herd immunity as a strategy. “It can lead to a very brutal arithmetic that does not put people and life and suffering at the center of that equation,” Dr. Mike Ryan, executive director of WHO’s Health Emergencies Program, said in May.