Sweden confirms its first case of Omicron variant
Sweden’s first case of new coronavirus variant Omicron (B.1.1.529) was confirmed at 4pm on Monday, in a person who lives in southern region Skåne and had just returned from South Africa, said the Swedish Public Health Agency in a statement.
Sweden on Friday stepped up its recommendations for returning travellers after the WHO designated Omicron as a “variant of concern”. Everyone who travels to Sweden from South Africa, Lesotho, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Namibia or Eswatini is urged to get a Covid-19 test on the day of arrival or as soon as possible, as well as a second test after five days.
But the variant has also been discovered in several European countries.
Sweden currently sequences all positive Covid-19 tests of international travellers and around 40 percent of all positive tests in the country, said the Public Health Agency.
Swedish vocabulary: confirmed – bekräftad
Magdalena Andersson to reveal her new government’s policies
Social Democrat leader Magdalena Andersson, who was elected by parliament as Sweden’s first female prime minister on Monday, is set to address parliament at 9.30am today to present her policies in a so-called declaration of government.
She will also present her new cabinet ministers, and at 1pm she’ll take part in a change of government cabinet meeting with King Carl XVI Gustaf. The King holds no formal power, but it is only after that meeting that Andersson will officially take office.
Swedish vocabulary: a cabinet minister – ett statsråd or en minister
More than 40 centimetres of snow set to fall in western Sweden
Sweden’s national weather agency SMHI has issued a series of weather warnings of snow, particularly affecting southern and western Sweden on Tuesday and Wednesday.
But the worst of the snowfall is expected to come on Wednesday, with 30-35 centimetres of snow set to fall in parts of western Sweden between Wednesday and Thursday, or even more than 40 centimetres in some areas.
SMHI issued a red alert for the area on Wednesday, the most serious weather warning which it described as “prolonged and very heavy snowfall which in combination with wind can give rise to significant traffic disruptions and power outages”.
You can keep up to date with the latest weather warnings on SMHI’s website.
Swedish vocabulary: red – röd
Sweden wins gold and silver at World Table Tennis Championships
Sweden unexpectedly won both a gold medal in the men’s doubles and a silver medal in the men’s single competition at the World Table Tennis Championships on Monday evening – to huge cheer in the country which used to play at the top level in the 1990s.
Mattias Falck and Kristian Karlsson fought off competition from South Korean team Jang Woo-Jin and Lim Jong-Hoon to take home Sweden’s first table tennis gold medal in the World Championships since 1991. Truls Möregårdh, 19, meanwhile had to settle for a silver after losing to Chinese world number one Fan Zhendong.
Swedish vocabulary: table tennis – bordtennis (but usually referred to as pingis)
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