Sweden accuses the WHO of misinterpreting its number of infections
Sweden accuses the WHO of misinterpreting its number of infections
The World Health Organization (WHO) was forced yesterday to
rectify a claim about an alleged "very significant" outbreak
of coronavirus infections in Sweden, after the authorities of
the Scandinavian country have accused it of misinterpreting the statistics.
The international organization had
included Sweden in a list of countries with Armenia, Moldova, North
Macedonia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Albania, Bosnia Herzegovina, Kyrgyzstan,
Ukraine and Kosovo which it warned that an accelerated transmission of the
virus “has led to a very significant resurgence that, if left unchecked, will
push health systems to the limit once again.
The Swedish state epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell,
categorically rejected this claim, calling it a complete misinterpretation of
the data and arguing that the increase in positive cases is due to the increase
in the detection tests and not to a recurrence of the infection.
Until the end of May, only people with severe symptoms could
be tested, while now they are also offered to those with mild signs. Last
week, about 62,000 people took the test, while a month ago it was less than
30,000 weekly.
In the new statement, the WHO qualifies its previous
statements, admitting that the Swedish Government has increased the tests
and this is reflected in the statistics, although it notes that the
number of new cases and the total number per 100,000 inhabitants remain
relatively high.
It is important to note that the percentage of positive
results among the total tests remains stable at around 12% -13%, indicating
that Sweden still has a social spread of the virus.
The WHO highlights several very positive trends,
particularly a continuous reduction of new cases of seriously ill patients and
a gradual reduction of patients in intensive care.
This week, the number
of people admitted to the ICU has dropped below 200. Two months ago there were
223 in Stockholm hospitals alone (now 46).
The WHO has not been the only organism that has indicated
Sweden as one of the European countries that continues to be more affected by
Covid-19. The European Center for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC)
recently stated that Sweden and Poland are the only ones where the disease has
not reached its peak, although it admitted that, in part, it can be explained
by the increase in tests.
The statistics of new infections are those that
many countries - like the rest of the Nordics - are using to veto the entry of
Swedish tourists.
The management of the coronavirus in Sweden, which has
chosen to keep society open, has generated intense debate both within and
outside its borders, focusing especially on high mortality.
Sweden has
registered 5,280 deaths, the fifth country with the most deaths in relation to
the population (523 per million inhabitants), excluding microstates. While
during the first months all the polls showed broad support for the authorities,
the latest polls show a decline in confidence.
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