Sweden’s COVID tits blame nightclubs and trips abroad for rising cases

STOCKHOLM, August 6 (Reuters) – The spread of COVID -19 in Sweden has continued to accelerate with infection levels that are no longer considered low, the country’s health authority said on Friday, blaming increased travel abroad and packed dance floors in lively nightclubs in Stockholm.

There were 3,451 new cases of COVID-19 in Sweden last week, an increase of 30% compared to the week before, the authority said, adding that in 59 cases per 100,000 people, the spread of infection was no longer at a low level.

“We see many cases of people being infected abroad in popular destinations in Europe,” said state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell in a statement, adding that 17% of the new cases were linked to such tourism.

Under Tegnell’s supervision, Sweden has relied mainly on voluntary measures to stop the spread of infection, although restrictions on opening hours for restaurants and restrictions on crowds in places where shopping centers had been implemented until recently.

In July, the government pushed forward with a planned easing of pandemic restrictions but warned that new variants of the virus required vigilance and urged people to follow recommendations on social distancing.

“We have also received reports of congestion at several holiday resorts in Sweden, including on Gotland, but also at dance venues in Stockholm, for example,” said Tegnell.

He said that the vaccine expansion continued according to plan, with just over 79% of the adults who had received at least one dose and just over 53% of the adults had two shots.

(This story has been refilled to fix spelling errors in the title)

Reporting by Colm Fulton Editing by Tomasz Janowski

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