Sweden's much-criticised no-lockdown approach appears to have bore fruit in the long run: while most countries in Europe are seeing sharp spikes in coronavirus infections, the level of infection in Sweden has been falling steadily since July.
Norway's and Denmark's Covid-19 infection figures have exceeded those of Sweden, despite the countries having put in place a prolonged lockdown earlier this year, new data from the European Infection Control Agency has shown.
Norway has recorded 24.8 infected per 100,000 inhabitants over the past fortnight, whereas Sweden is now down to 24.0.
Camilla Stoltenberg, the director of the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH), admitted that Norway has had major local outbreaks recently, which constitute a high proportion of the new cases. “There are also local outbreaks in Sweden, but while those there have been declining in recent weeks, the infection in Norway has increased,” Stoltenberg, the sister of former Norwegian Prime Minister and incumbent NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg told the newspaper Aftenposten.
According to Stoltenberg, immunity will play a big role in the spread of the infection in the future.
“The immunity in the population can help slow the spread of infection. But as with infection, immunity comes in clusters. In Sweden, for example, it is likely that it is higher in the Stockholm area, because more have been infected there,” Stoltenberg mused.
Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg said that the…
