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Sweden defends not locking down over coronavirus, but admits failing to protect the elderly - CNN

Sweden defends not locking down over coronavirus, but admits failing to protect the elderly - CNN

Sweden defends not locking down over coronavirus, but admits failing to protect the elderly - CNN
Jun 03, 2020 1 min, 48 secs

"There are things that we could have done better but in general I think that Sweden has chosen the right way," Sweden's chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said Wednesday, in an interview with Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.

Much of the criticism around Sweden's response has focused on the high death rates in care homes.

Tegnell admitted the country's Public Health Agency "didn't know that there would be such a big potential for the disease to spread in elderly care homes, with so many deaths."

"We knew that group was very fragile and that we would get a lot of deaths if they got infected.

Inquiry into strategy

The Swedish government has announced it will launch an inquiry into the country's coronavirus strategy and the measures taken, with details of what form it will take expected before summer.

On Wednesday, Prime Minister Stefan Löfven told the country's Aftonbladet newspaper: "I am in charge of the government, and that is why we have used the strategy that we have applied all along."

He said parts of Sweden's strategy to limit the virus were correct, for example, because the healthcare system was not overwhelmed but "at the same time, we must admit that the part about the spread of the disease within the elderly care, that has not worked, that is obvious, we have too many older people who have died."

Last month a CNN report found people dying in care homes accounted for around half the country's total death toll, with many grieving families saying their loved ones never received any medical treatment.

Just like several other countries we did not manage to protect the most vulnerable people, the most elderly, despite our best intentions."

Lofven said his country's strategy was to "make sure that the measures that we implement and decide upon should be long-term because we regard this as a marathon." He said Sweden did not want to have to implement decisions, take them away, then bring them back again.

In mid-May, Sweden's Public Health Authority revealed that despite the country's more relaxed approach only 7.3% of people in Stockholm had developed the antibodies needed to fight the disease by late April.

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