STOCKHOLM, March 17 (Xinhua) – The number of confirmed COVID-19 cases among children is increasing in Sweden. Two weeks ago, almost one in five new infections was found in people aged 19 or younger, Dagens Nyheter reported on Wednesday.
In comparison, less than 13 percent of the infections confirmed since the pandemic began involving people younger than 19, according to the Public Health Agency.
The coronavirus strain that was first discovered in the UK is believed to have accelerated the spread of the virus, says Dagens Nyheter.
“We know it is more contagious, and now we see that as much as 75 percent of all infections in the region were caused by the British variant,” Johanna Wiechel Steier, communications director for the Halland region in the southwestern part of the country, told the newspaper.
Almost 600 children aged nine or younger and approximately 3,700 people in the age group ten to 19 years have been confirmed to have been infected with the strain in Halland.
The mutation is also the dominant strain in the Stockholm region and in the Jönköping and Kalmar regions in the south.
The pressure is increasing on schools and preschools in many of Sweden’s regions, with an increasing number of educational institutions switching to distance education.
In their latest status report, the county administrative boards warn of “significant difficulties” in maintaining the quality of teaching as a result of distance learning.
“It can affect children’s ability to get a final grade that they need to enter university and college,” the report says.
Source: sn.dk