SWEDEN: hospitalisations from Covid-19 are rising faster than in any other country in Europe, while in Stockholm — the centre for both the 1st & 2nd waves in the country — 1 in every 5 tests is +ve, suggesting the virus is even more widespread than official figures suggest.

“Four days ago we had eight times the number of cases per capita than Finland and 3.5 times as many as Norway. They were supposed to have it worse than us in the autumn because we were going to have immunity” said Lena Einhorn, a prominent Swedish virologist.

Sweden is also currently faring worse than Denmark as well as Finland and Norway when it comes to hospitalisations and deaths...

“If you had a lot of cases in the Spring, you also see a lot of cases now” said Sara Byfors a specialist at the Swedish Health Agency.

Who would have thought that if the virus was embedded in communities it might ignite more extensively, spread more vigorously, than if it was crushed?

It is almost as if an infectious disease is infectious.

Hospitalisations are also doubling every 8 days in Sweden which is faster than the U.K. but the rise starting later

Cases per capita have sextuplets in the past month to more than 300 new infections per million less than the U.K.

ICU admissions have risen but well off capacity

Whilst the average positivity is 10% the concentration is in Stockholm county again and some other pockets of higher positivity running at 20%.

More worryingly, despite efforts to stop the spread to care homes, it is returning and spreading rapidly right now.
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That’s the problem when an infectious and often asymptomatic virus is embedded in the community.

Always worth looking at logscales to see the rate of rise.

Article here

. : https://www.ft.com/content/1e0ac31d-5abf-4a18-ab3e-eec9744a4d31?segmentId=bf7fa2fd-67ee-cdfa-8261-b2a3edbdf916