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STRÖMSTAD

Swedish municipality rolls out local restrictions to fight Covid outbreak

Strömstad, a Swedish town close to the Norwegian border, is fighting an increase in the spread of coronavirus.

Swedish municipality rolls out local restrictions to fight Covid outbreak
Strömstad has not been particularly busy since the Sweden-Norway border closed. Photo: Adam Ihse/TT

Strömstad saw its number of new coronavirus infections double last week compared to the week before – despite the fact that the spread appears to be slowly subsiding in the rest of the Västra Götaland region.

The municipality's lower secondary schools (for 13-15-year-olds) will now return to online classes, sports and leisure centres will close and the municipality has asked for permission to reintroduce a ban on visits to care homes for elderly people.

Infectious disease doctor Leif Dotevall told the TT newswire that he did not believe the virus variant first discovered in the UK (and which has also been found in Norway, as well as in Sweden) was behind the increased spread in Strömstad, because no cases of the new variant had been found in randomised testing in the municipality.

Various border closures and quarantine requirements in the two countries in the past year have meant that there has been less commuting across the border than normal.

Dotevall instead argued that Strömstad had previously had a low spread of coronavirus, so had possibly built up less immunity in the population compared to other towns in the region.

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