Sweden on Wednesday ended most of its few restrictions due to the pandemic and suspended almost all tests for the coronavirus. Covid-19despite the fact that the pressure on health systems remains high and some scientists called for more patience in the fight against the disease.
The Swedish government, which throughout the pandemic has opted not to impose restrictions in favor of a voluntary approach, announced last week that it would remove the remaining restrictions – effectively declaring the end of the pandemic – as vaccines and the less severe omicron variant have reduced cases serious and deaths.
“I would say that this pandemic is over as we know it,” said the Health Minister Lena Hallengren, to Dagens Nyheter. “It’s not over, but as we know it in terms of rapid change and restrictions, it is,” she said, adding that Covid-19 will no longer be classified as a danger to society.
As of Wednesday, bars and restaurants will be able to reopen after 11 p.m. and without limits on the number of diners. Attendance limits at larger indoor venues were also removed, as was the use of mobility passes.
However, Swedish hospitals continued to feel the pressure, with about 2,200 people with Covid-19 requiring hospital care, about the same as during the third wave in the spring of 2021. As free testing was curtailed earlier this month and effectively stopped as of Wednesday, no one knows the exact number of cases.
“We should have a little more patience, wait at least a couple more weeks. We are rich enough to continue testing,” Fredrik Elgh, a professor of virology at Umea University and one of the harshest critics, told Reuters. of Sweden’s no-lockdown policy. “The disease remains a huge burden on society,” he said.
The Swedish Health Agency said this week that large-scale testing is too expensive relative to the benefits. Sweden spent about 500 million Swedish kronor (about $55 million) a week on tests in the first five weeks of this year and about 24 billion kronor since the start of the pandemic.
This Wednesday, Sweden registered 114 new deaths in which the deceased was infected with the virus. In all, 16,182 people have died from the virus or while infected with it. The number of deaths per capita is much higher than in the Nordic neighbours, but lower than in most European countries.