Call for full lockdown in Sweden as regions confront rising infections

There are already local restrictions in Uppsala – the sign reads: "the danger is not over"

Credit: TT News Agency via Reuters

The head of the infectious diseases unit in one of Sweden’s most hard-hit regions has called for the country to impose a hard lockdown as the country registers a record number of new cases. 

"I think we need much stronger restrictions, and I think it’s time to seriously consider a shutdown of society," Fredrik Sund, head of the infectious diseases clinic in Uppsala, said on the main evening news programme of state broadcaster SVT.

Asked if he meant closing shops and restaurants, and keeping everyone inside, as was done in Italy in the spring, Dr Sund answered: "precisely".

"We need to bring in tougher restrictions which are backed by law, because we’ve now seen that these recommendations are too toothless."

Sweden on Friday registered 4,697 new coronavirus cases, the highest number since the start of the pandemic, although Sweden only tested hospitalised patients in the spring. 

Dr Sund’s intervention came shortly after emails were published in which Sweden’s state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell tells a predecessor that the country had opted for a herd immunity strategy — something he has consistently denied.

According to a story in the Svenska Dagbladet newspaper, Peet Tüll, who held a similar role 20 years ago, emailed Dr Tegnell on March 15th, outlining three possible strategies: one, a four-week lockdown; two, track, trace and isolate; or three, "allowing contagion to happen, either fast or slow, in order to reach a hypothetical herd immunity".

"Number three," Tüll wrote, "strikes me as an ill-thought-out and defeatist strategy which I would never have accepted in my previous role."

When Tegnell replied a few hours later, he said that his agency had come to a different conclusion. "Yeah, well, we’ve gone through all that, and despite everything, ended up with three," he wrote.

Sweden last month shifted to a more interventionist, but still non-coercive, strategy based around far-reaching "local general recommendations", the first of which was issued to Uppsala two weeks ago on Tuesday.

Locals in Uppsala are asked, if possible, to avoid socialising with anyone they do not live with, to avoid public transport, and to work from home. Similar restrictions, none backed by fines or other sanctions, have since been issued to nine other regions.

Dr Sund told SVT that since the recommendations were issued, the number of weekly new confirmed coronavirus cases had more than doubled in the region, as had and the number being treated in hospital.

"We’ve seen this week that the recommendations aren’t being followed — with the sort of spread of infection that’s happening right now, it’s more like we in Sweden are in freefall," he warned.  

He said that while the number being treated for coronavirus in hospital in Uppsala remained below the levels seen in spring, the situation was arguably worse. 

Many of the operations and tests which had postponed in spring could not now be postponed longer, he warned, while many hospital staff were exhausted.

"Now we’ve got a chance to do something about it," he said. "In a few weeks, it won’t have any effect, because then we will have a bigger spread."

On Friday morning, however, Sweden’s health minister Lena Hallengren said she did not see the need for stronger, legally enforcible restrictions, as seven million out of Sweden’s ten million people were already covered by the local recommendations.

"As far as I’m concerned, we already have strong recommendations and an approach that means that large parts of society are locked down," she said.