Snow chaos as icy spell grips Sweden
Thousands of households were left in darkness on Monday morning after power cut out during a snow storm in northern Sweden. Around 6,000 households were without power, reported Swedish public radio news programme Ekot, including 4,000 in Ångermanland, where a class-three warning for heavy snow remained in place on Monday morning, alongside north-eastern Medelpad.
Around 40-70 centimetres of snow was expected to fall in the region between Monday and the early hours of Wednesday, and it was the first time Sweden's national weather agency SMHI issued a class-three (or 'red') snow alert, the most serious kind, in at least a decade.
Swedish vocabulary: snow – snö
SWEDEN IN PICTURES: Your best snow snaps https://t.co/Dp00kR1QmE
— The Local Sweden (@TheLocalSweden) January 12, 2021
80,000 vaccinated against Covid-19
Around 80,000 people in Sweden had received the Covid-19 by January 10th, said the Public Health Agency as it released its vaccination statistics on Tuesday morning.
But the total figure is likely higher, it said, as three out of Sweden's 21 regions had yet to submit their data for the first week of the year, which means it is not complete.
Swedish vocabulary: get vaccinated – vaccinera sig
Several regions have been holding on to some of their doses to guarantee a second dose for everyone who gets the first one, but the Public Health Agency says it's looking like vaccine deliveries are progressing as planned so it recommends that regions just crack on with it.
— Emma Löfgren (@ekjlofgren) January 12, 2021
Greta Thunberg on a stamp
Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg will be the motif of one of the new stamps released by PostNord this year, as part of a series on the themes of “valuable nature, environment and Gothenburg” (the latter because it celebrates its 400th anniversary as a city in 2021).
Swedish vocabulary: stamp – frimärke
The new stamps. Photo: PostNord
Sweden to invest more in coronavirus testing
The Swedish government has earmarked 5.5 billion kronor (approximately $664 million) to coronavirus test-and-trace operations around the country, in addition to two billion previously allocated, reports the TT news agency. Between 200,000 and 300,000 weekly PCR tests, for ongoing infection, were carried out in December.
Swedish vocabulary: test and trace – smittspåra
File photo of a nurse holding a test tube. Photo: Fredrik Sandberg/TT
Sweden wants to make sex toys safer
The Swedish Institute for Standards has asked for an international ISO standard for sex toys, after doctors noted that more people were forced to seek medical help for related injuries, as The Local – would you believe it or not – has previously reported.
All 165 members of ISO are now considering Sweden's proposal, which focuses on risk analysis and clear information for the consumer on how to use the sex toys.
“If you make a dildo, for example, and you know that it could perhaps be used the wrong way you should think 'what can we do so that it doesn't cause damage? Is it the size or some kind of design measure that could stop it from going in to far? Or can you get it out if it does?” project manager Anna Sjögren told the TT news agency.
Swedish vocabulary: sex toy – sexleksak
Member comments