Fresh flood warnings for central Sweden

After a few days of heavy rainfall in southern Sweden, there are now SMHI Class 1 warnings (the least severe on a three-point scale) for large amounts of rain expected in Dalarna and Hälsingland on Thursday. This means there is a risk of overflowing stormwater pipes and flooded basements for example.

Initially a Class 2 warning was issued for the Hälsingland coast and although it has been revised down to Class 1, weather agency SMHI said there is a risk that may change for some areas.

On Wednesday, Kristianstad was hit hard by storms, with flooded streets and the rescue services called out to deal with floods in properties as well as in a nursing home and the local hospital. On Tuesday, another storm swept over the southwestern Götaland region, with a total of 1,700 lightning strikes and heavy rains causing floods.

Swedish vocabulary: torrential rain – skyfall

Skåne doctor gave untested treatment to young women

A doctor in Skåne has been removed from his role pending investigation and reported to the Swedish Healthcare Inspectorate (Ivo) for giving an untested treatment of cortisone injections to young women and teenagers who sought help for vulval pain or pain during sex, the region has said.

“We take this very seriously – for several reasons. Although we have no indications that the injections themselves are harmful, it was a procedure in a sensitive area. It has also meant that the young women have not received treatment in specialist care, where they should have been referred,” said Jan Bleckert, chief physician in primary care for the region, in a statement.

The region has identified over 50 patients who received the treatment from the doctor.

Swedish vocabulary: harmful – skadlig

Gothenburg doctor sentenced to a year in prison for faking Covid-19 travel certificates

In Sweden, the PCR tests required before travel to many countries cannot be done through the national healthcare service, so instead travellers must use private clinics. At a clinic in Gothenburg, a doctor issued certificates saying patients had tested negative, but had actually never sent their samples for laboratory analysis.

A district court has now sentenced him to one year in prison, a more severe penalty than what the prosecutor requested, saying that a high penalty was justified since the man “in his capacity as a doctor, took advantage of the ongoing pandemic for his own gain”.

Swedish vocabulary: travel certificate – reseintyg

Retail on the rise in Sweden

According to the latest statistics from Statistics Sweden (SCB), retail sales volume increased by 8.5 percent in June compared to the same month last year, though it dropped slightly by 0.3 percent from May 2021. 

Swedish vocabulary: retail – detaljhandel

Wolves born in Jönköping for first time in ‘modern times’

Jönköping’s regional council has shared photos of newly born wolves in the region, the first time in modern times that wolf pups have been born there according to the TT newswire. It is unclear exactly how many pups there are, but at least five.

In the whole of Sweden, there are around 400 wolves living in the wild according to the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency’s latest census, and that’s a rise from the previous year.

Swedish vocabulary: wolf pup – vargvalp

How many Brits have applied for their post-Brexit status in Sweden?

Just over 9,000, according to Migration Agency statistics shared with The Local. The deadline for the application is September 30th, 2021, but it is hard to say how many people still need to apply. According to Statistics Sweden, there are nearly 15,000 British nationals living in Sweden who do not have Swedish citizenship, but some of this number may have another EU citizenship and therefore already have the right to remain under freedom of movement, while people without a Swedish social security number (personnummer) are not included in that count.

Swedish vocabulary: residence status – uppehållsstatus

UK to allow fully vaccinated travellers from Europe to skip quarantine (but not tests)

Good news for people vaccinated against Covid-19 in Sweden who need to travel to the UK, as the latter country announced on Wednesday it would ditch the compulsory 10-day quarantine for fully vaccinated people. Previously this was only possible if the vaccines were administered in the UK. The new rules will apply from 4am on August 2nd. However, travellers (apart from children under 10) will still need to provide a negative test no more than three days prior to travel and take a PCR test on the second day after arriving in the country (apart from children aged 4 and under).

Swedish vocabulary: quarantine – karantän