Hospital on heightened alert after ‘threat’

The threat is not being treated as one of a terrorist nature, but security at the building has been increased, with more guards now on duty.

“The security level has been raised. That's what we always do in these situations and it is now a matter for the police,” a Karolinska spokesperson told The Local.

She would not elaborate on the nature of the threat or confirm whether it was directed at a specific person or the hospital, but did emphasize that Karolinska is currently operating as normal.

A spokesperson for Stockholm police confirmed to Swedish news agency TT that the threat has now been reported to them and they are currently investigating the matter.

The hospital’s security chief meanwhile did not want to go into details about the threat when questioned by newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, though he did reiterate that it was not terror related.

“The threat has no connection to terrorism, I can dismiss that entirely, but otherwise I won’t go into what it is about or what measure we have taken,” Carl Magnus Rutherfalk told newspaper SvD.

Based in the Solna municipality in Stockholm county, the hospital is located in the same area as the closely affiliated Karolinska Institute, the medical university which awards the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine.