Coronavirus updates later today
Sweden's government has announced a press conference relating to the Covid-19 vaccination in Sweden, taking place at 8.15am.
At 2pm, Swedish authorities involved in handling the coronavirus response (usually the Public Health Agency, National Board of Health and Welfare and Civil Contingencies Agency) will hold their biweekly briefing, including an update of national statistics.
We will add any important updates to our coronavirus blog.
Swedish vocabulary: press conference – pressträff
Sweden brings in requirement for negative Covid-19 test for foreign tourists
Swedish citizens as well as foreign residents in Sweden will be exempt from a new entry ban on arrivals without a negative Covid-19 test, said the government on Wednesday. The test requirement applies to foreign citizens who are not exempt from existing travel bans (from the UK, Denmark, Norway, and non-EU countries) but several groups are exempted from the ban, including people who live in Sweden.
In practice, it appears the requirement for a negative Covid-19 test will apply primarily to EU citizens or the countries exempted from the non-EU travel ban who come to Sweden for non-essential travel. Members of The Local can read our full explainer here.
Swedish vocabulary: negative test result – negativt provsvar
Photo: Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP
Residents of some Swedish care homes died alone after staff directive
Some people living in Swedish care homes died alone in their rooms after staff were directed not to be in the same room as them, an investigation from Swedish healthcare watchdog Ivo shows.
Gothenburg was one of several municipalities where this occurred in the early stages of the pandemic, according to the Ivo report which strongly criticises around 40 of Sweden's 290 municipalities for their actions.
Gothenburg councillor Elisabet Lann, who is responsible for elderly care in the municipality, said she didn't know where the directive for staff to stay out of infected patients' rooms had come from and “needed time to take this in”.
She also said that her trust for the Public Health Agency had been damaged during the pandemic: “During spring, there was a clear directive from the Public Health Agency and Infectious Disease Control that there was no reason to think infection could happen asymptomatically, so there was resistance to using protective equipment other than in cases of confirmed infection. But they were clearly wrong.”
Swedish vocabulary: protective equipment – skyddsutrustning
Photo: Christine Olsson/TT
Spotify's net loss triples despite booming subscription numbers
Swedish music streaming giant Spotify saw its net loss increase threefold in 2020, despite a continuing rise in the number of paying subscribers. At the end of 2020, the number of monthly active users was 345 million, a 27 percent increase compared with a year earlier.
Swedish vocabulary: listener – lyssnare
Photo: Magnus Hjalmarson Neideman/SvD/TT
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