More weather warnings

The heavy rain across central-northern Sweden is forecast to continue today, and weather agency SMHI has issued Class 1 warnings (the least severe on a three-point scale) for Jämtland and Västernorrland, after Dalarna and Gävleborg had the warnings yesterday which have now been removed.

Swedish vocabulary: warning – varning

Sweden’s economic recovery stronger than expected

Sweden’s GDP grew more than expected during the second quarter of the year, according to preliminary figures from Statistics Sweden. These showed a growth of 0.9 percent in Q2 of 2021 compared to Q1, higher than the average forecast from analysts of 0.7 percent, and compared to Q2 2020 growth was 10 percent.

“The growth rate compared with the previous year is the highest we have measured in our time series for Sweden’s GDP, which should be seen against the background that the economy a year ago was hit hard by the pandemic,” says Melker Loberg, economist at Statistics Sweden, in a press release.

Swedish vocabulary: to grow – växa

Strained situation in Sweden’s maternity wards

All over Sweden, all year round there is a shortage of midwives, and this is especially apparent in the summer when many healthcare staff take vacation. When newswire TT contacted 32 of the country’s maternity wards, more than 80 percent said they did not have enough staff for summer.

A clinic in Lyckelse, northern Sweden, has had to close for three weeks due to sick leave on top of staff vacation which meant replacement workers could not be found, and expectant parents were sent elsewhere to Skellefteå or Umeå.

Swedish vocabulary: midwife – barnmorska

Shortage of water on Gotland

As early as June, groundwater levels on the island of Gotland were well below normal, and now the region has appealed to residents to be sparing in their use of water, saying the situation is critical in several locations.

“We know that it is not due to leaks, but it is the large amount of people who are currently using a lot of water. Everyone who is on the island, both residents and visitors and of course companies, must make every effort to reduce water consumption at the moment,” Patrik Johansson, head of the drinking water unit, said in a statement.

Swedish vocabulary: consumption – förbrukning

Shingles vaccine could be added to national vaccination programme

The Public Health Agency wants to investigate whether a new vaccine against shingles, which is 90 percent effective compared to the current one with 50 percent efficacy, should be included in the national programme.

Offering the vaccine in the national programme means subsidising it or even making it free to individuals, but Shingrix is expensive, costing around 5,000 kronor for two doses. According to the agency, around 30,000 people are affected by shingles every year and a quarter of the population will suffer from it at least once in their lives.

Swedish vocabulary: shingles – bältros

More than half Sweden’s adult population is now fully vaccinated against Covid-19

Sweden passed a milestone in the fight against Covid-19 on Thursday with more than half of all adults in the country having received both doses of a vaccine against the virus.

As of July 29th, a total of 4,118,142 people have now received both doses (all vaccines being used in Sweden require two) while 6,365,362 have received at least one. That’s 50.3 percent and 77.7 percent of Sweden’s adult population respectively, or roughly 40 and 61 percent of the country’s total population.

Swedish vocabulary: dose – dos