A total of 687 people have died with the coronavirus in Sweden, according to the Public Health Agency’s latest update (presented at 2pm), and there have been 8,419 confirmed cases so far. A total of 678 people have so far been in intensive care, and around 469 patients are currently in intensive care. Sweden is currently seeing an average of around 45 deaths a day, said state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.
Tegnell however told the press conference that there are signs that Sweden, or particularly Stockholm, may have reached “more of a plateau situation than before”. “But we are starting to see an increase in other parts of the country,” he said.
The department for thoracic surgery at Linköping University Hospital in Sweden tested all of its staff, around 50, for the coronavirus and found that around five to ten tested positive without obvious symptoms or with only very mild symptoms, such as a light headache or a slightly blocked nose.
A Public Health Agency survey is currently under way to investigate how many people in society may be carrying the coronavirus. But asked about the example from Linköping University Hospital, the agency’s analyst Karin Tegmark Wisell told Swedish radio: “This underlines that paying attention to symptoms is not enough, but you have to observe social distancing to as great an extent as possible.”
Yes. Lack of symptoms is great for you, but deadly for others.