Sweden Introduces New Measures to Battle COVID-19

In recent weeks, the Omicron variant of the coronavirus has ravaged the European continent, as countries across the continent have been seeing a rapid increase in reported cases of the Omicron variant of the virus.

It was reported that about 89 countries are currently battling with the new variant, which has been touted by the European Centre for Disease Control to be the dominant variant of the coronavirus come mid-January or latest February 2022.

Sweden has joined the list of European countries taking new measures to curb the new virus and its rapid spread. This is as the country prepares for a massive increase in infections because of the new Omicron variant, as well as the increase in the country’s hospitalisation rate.

The country announced that from this week, any events that will have a large number of attendees will need proof of vaccination in order to be granted access to the area. Part of the measures also includes restaurants only serving customers who are seared inside, and all events that will be having more than 20 attendees ensuring that some form of precaution (enforcing the usage of masks, physical distancing) is taken in order to reduce the risk of transmission of the virus.

As at last month, Sweden was not facing the same effects of the new variant like other countries in Europe. Therefore, Sweden had not seen any need to impose severe restrictions like some other European countries.

However, that story changed in the last two weeks. Sweden started to see a very rapid increase in the number of people infected with the coronavirus, recording an increase of 40% in the number of people hospitalised due to COVID-19 in the country. There are also fears that the Omicron variant could cause this number to rise even further.

The country’s predictions state that in only a few weeks, Sweden could record the highest number of daily infections since the beginning of the pandemic in March 2020. In that situation (which is one of the worst possible outcomes for the country), the hospitalisations could multiply fivefold from the current hospitalisation levels.

It should however be recognised that the present levels and numbers are not as serious as previous critical stages of the virus in the country, but the projections are still concerning.