Stockholm faces local restrictions after 'worrying signs' of rising infections

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Stockholm could face new local restrictions to curb the spread of coronavirus, as health officials warned of “worrying signs" in the Swedish capital. 

Sweden, which has so far chosen not to use lockdowns to tackle the virus, is also seeing early signs the number of infections is increasing nationally, experts have said. 

Stockholm’s top health official has raised the alarm about a rise in cases in the region.

 "What we can see are worrying signs that the spread of infection is increasing," said Bjorn Eriksson, the Stockholm director of health and medical services, said on Tuesday, according to local media.

“The downwards trend is broken. We can only hope that this is a blip, that the spread start decreasing again. That depends on how well we follow the guidelines.” 

Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist, said new measures may be needed in the capital, and there will be discussions looking at this. 

Unlike other countries who have implemented strict lockdowns, Sweden’s strategy to combat coronavirus has emphasised personal responsibility instead. 

This model drew fierce criticism as deaths shot up during the spring, but has also been lauded by WHO officials as a sustainable model.

Infections dropped significantly in the summer and so far Sweden had been spared the type of sharp increases in new cases seen in Spain, France and the UK in the past month.

As of Tuesday, around 1,200 new cases and five deaths had been reported since Friday compared to around 200 cases per day in the last weeks. 

The increase in new cases cannot solely be explained by increased testing, the Public Health Agency said on Tuesday.

"The rolling average has increased somewhat," Mr Tegnell, who devised Sweden’s pandemic strategy, said.

The country’s health minister signalled earlier this month the government is keen to avoid national restrictions.

“It’s very important that we have quick and local response to hit down the virus without making restrictions for the whole country,” Lena Hallengren said.  

Sweden has seen more than 88,200 cases of coronavirus to date.

As of Wednesday, the country had reported around 5,800 Covid-related deaths in total.

Additional reporting by agencies