On Thursday, King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden admitted that his country failed with its COVID-19 policy.
This strategy left the country facing successive increasing COVID-19 deaths. Also, it recorded higher death rate more than Nordic neighbours.
Carl XVI Gustaf told Swedes in his annual Christmas speech that the country suffered “enormously in difficult conditions” and that it was “traumatic” that many 8,000 people families lost their beloved due Covid-19.
“I think we have failed. We have a large number who have died and that is terrible. It is something we all have to suffer with,” the king added.
Sweden’s Covid-19 strategy was based on no formal lockdown, no recommendations to use face masks, and weaker quarantine rules than elsewhere in Europe.
Furthermore, the country was hit by the second wave of Covid-19.
State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell asserted that Sweden was hit by a fiercer COVID-19 spared comparing with Finland and Norway.
Sweden reported about 1,700 Covid deaths in the past month comparing with about 100 each in Finland and Norway, each of which has half Sweden’s population.
"Stockholm and some other regions are close to running out of intensive care beds, prompting authorities to trigger a national escalation plan while both Finland and Norway have offered medical assistance," the king expressed.
He added, "The government is also working on a temporary law to give it greater authority to order closures, but it is not likely to come into power until mid-March."
In the same context, BBC expressed that an official report released earlier this week indicated, "The strategy failed in its effort to protect the elderly in care homes - for which the government has admitted responsibility."
"Over 90% of Covid-19 deaths were among those aged 70 and over, and nearly half of all Covid deaths have been in care homes," the government said.
It is worthy to mention that Stockholm Royal Palace announced that Prince Carl Philip, the Duke of Värmland, and his wife Princess Sophia contracted COVID-19 last month.
Also, the couple is currently quarantined after the confirmation of their COVID-19 infection according to France 24.
Moreover, the couple is suffering from a few and controllable symptoms. However, their medical cases are getting better.
Currently, Europe is now facing a tragic rise in the number of COVID-19 patients and the number of deaths. This rise is globally known as the second wave of the pandemic.
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