Sweden’s government in crisis

The top story today is a looming no-confidence vote in Prime Minister Stefan Löfven. It was sparked when the Left Party threatened to put forward such a vote to protest market rents, but now the Sweden Democrats (on the opposite side of the political spectrum) have taken matters into their own hands and decided to call for a vote of no confidence before Midsummer next week.

Unlike the Left Party, the Sweden Democrats have enough sitting MPs to call this vote, and at the time of writing it looks like a majority of parliament would vote in favour, with the Christian Democrat and Moderate parties also saying they would vote to bring down the government. 

Speaking in parliament, Löfven said it was “not responsible” to call for the vote during the coronavirus crisis. You can catch up on the full story here, and we will report on any updates throughout the day.

Swedish vocabulary: air – luft

Delta variant is ‘biggest concern’ for authorities

The number of newly reported Covid-19 cases and hospitalisations is falling in Sweden, but the biggest concern is the spread of the Delta variant of the virus which is thought to be more infectious, the Public Health Agency said on Thursday.

The agency’s director Johan Carlson said the variant was likely present in all or most Swedish regions, but only three (Blekinge, Kronoberg and Värmland) had so far seen confirmed outbreaks. The government said the spread of the variant was not yet significant enough to change the re-opening plan, with the next set of restrictions currently expected to be relaxed on July 1st, but that may change depending on what happens in the next few weeks and if compliance with existing restrictions is high enough to curb the spread of the virus.

Swedish vocabulary: infectious – smittsam

• How concerned should we be about the spread of the Delta Covid-19 variant in Sweden?

Fewer patients received the right healthcare during the pandemic

It was already known that the Covid-19 pandemic placed a huge burden on healthcare, leading to delayed and adapted care for non-urgent conditions, and a new evaluation from the National Board of Health and Welfare looked at which patients were worst affected.

Care for cardiovascular diseases was largely able to follow the same guidelines as before, the report showed, but patients with chronic diseases such as dementia and diabetes were among those who received less care than recommended in national guidelines. The review also showed large differences between regions.

Christina Broman, who worked on the agency’s investigation, told the TT newswire that the report did not look at precisely why patients received fewer healthcare interventions.

“In part, it may be that patients have not wanted to come [to their doctor or hospital] due to the risk of infection and that they followed [medical] advice. In other cases, it may be that healthcare staff instead had to work with Covid-19-related assignments, we have not studied what is what,” she said.

Swedish vocabulary: risk of infection – smittorisk

Restaurant revenues down by a third due to pandemic restrictions

Sweden’s restaurants are estimated to have seen drops in revenue of around a third during the first five months of the year, compared with the same period in 2019, according to a report from industry organisation Visita cited by Swedish Radio Ekot.

Visita said the early closing times of 8.30pm, introduced on March 1st, hit restaurants hardest. In total, the restaurant industry’s revenues are estimated to have decreased by 51 billion since March 2020, as a report from the organisation shows.

Swedish vocabulary: revenue – omsättning

Doctor reported for faking Covid-19 results

A doctor in Stockholm wrote out travel certificates for people who tested positive for Covid-19 several times during the pandemic, P4 Stockholm radio reports.

A colleague discovered the fraud back in October, after which the doctor was given a warning and affected patients were contacted, but according to the report, the doctor continued to issue travel certificates falsely saying patients had tested negative. Now he has been reported to the Healthcare Inspectorate, Ivo, by the company that employs him.

In May, a man was sentenced to 14 days in prison after trying to check in at Stockholm’s Arlanda airport using a false Covid-19 certificate.

Swedish vocabulary: fraud – fusk/bedrägeri