Swedes quickly lose confidence in their country’s response to the pandemic, even the king delivers a rare reprimand to those responsible.
Significantly more Swedes have become ill and died of Covid-19 than anywhere else in the Nordic region. And with Stockholm recently running out of intensive care beds, the level of frustration is high. “The Swedish people have suffered enormously in difficult conditions,” King Carl XVI Gustaf told state broadcaster SVT. Regarding the strategy in Sweden, he said: “I think we have failed.” Much of the blame has been directed at the chief architect of Sweden’s strategy, Anders Tegnell, its state epidemiologist. A poll published on Thursday showed that support for him and his employer has fallen over the past two months. Prime Minister Stefan Lofven also expressed his dissatisfaction.
“The king states, like us and many others, that the fact that so many people have died can not be seen as anything other than a failure,” Lofven told reporters in Stockholm on Thursday.
Meanwhile, Tegnell has continued to defend Sweden’s overall strategy to avoid blockades. He also claims that there is no real evidence that face masks work, and Swedes are among the only people who leave their daily lives largely worm-free, with shops, restaurants and gyms still open.
Almost 8,000 Swedes have died from Covid-19. This can be compared with less than 1,000 in Denmark, about 480 in Finland and just over 400 in Norway.
In his interview with TV4, Tegnell said that he was “surprised” by the intensity of the second wave of the pandemic.
“I think many, with me, are surprised that it has been able to come back so strongly,” he said.
Copyright (c) Novinite.com. Published with permission via Big News Network news agency
Source: sn.dk