Sweden Didn't Enforce Covid-19 Lockdown On Its People, Left It To Them But It Is Not Going Well

While countries effected by the coronavirus pandemic have used lockdown as a measure to contain the spread of the disease, Sweden's approach has been different.

Rather than imposing restrictions in the country, the Swedish government has relied on its people taking responsibility themselves to stem the spread of coronavirus. As a result, restaurants and bars are open in the Nordic country, playgrounds and schools too.

AFP

The country's government has though come under severe criticism for not enforcing lockdown with US President Donald Trump saying "Sweden did that, the herd, they call it the herd. Sweden's suffering very, very badly."

But the Swedish government is confident its policy can work. Foreign Minister Ann Linde told Swedish TV on Wednesday that Trump was "factually wrong" to suggest that Sweden was following the "herd immunity" theory - of letting enough people catch the virus while protecting the vulnerable, meaning a country's population builds up immunity against the disease.

AFP

The reason to rely on voluntary actions to contain the virus has yielded limited success though. As of April 9, Sweden has 9,141 cases of the Covid-19 virus and 793 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.

And deaths are spiking: Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were the three days with the highest death toll so far, peak at 114 deaths.

AFP

Sweden's "curve" - the rate of infections and deaths caused by coronavirus is certainly steeper than that of many other European countries with stricter measures. A study by Imperial College London estimated that 3.1% of the Swedish population was infected as of last month, compared to 0.41% in Norway and 2.5% in the UK.

It is still to early to call, but by next month it will be more clearer whether the Swedish system got it right.