The Swedish Corona Committee said in its new report that Sweden’s response to the epidemic was weak and late.
– The committee concluded in its report submitted on Friday that the first protection measures were not sufficient to stop or even sharply reduce the spread of infection in the country.
The Committee further recalls that Sweden’s choice of course has emphasized infection control measures based on voluntary and personal responsibility rather than more intrusive measures.
In addition, the strategy at the beginning of the epidemic was characterized by stagnation, the commission believes.
“Even when it comes to a capacity test, Sweden is considered to have failed. Instead of starting the test, a discussion arose about the division of responsibilities and funding – something hard to describe as anything other than an accident. In sum, the measures have not succeeded in stopping or reducing sharply of the spread of infection in the country,” the commission wrote.
“lost time”
They also noted that health authorities did not take the initiative to obtain information on the status of infection control stocks in the Health and Care Service.
The Swedish Health Directorate was not tasked with ensuring access to infection control equipment until mid-March.
“The six weeks in February and the beginning of March appear, in the eyes of the commission, to be a waste of time to address the shortage of infection control equipment,” the commission wrote.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, more than 15,000 deaths related to corona and more than 1,170,000 cases of infection have been recorded.
‘Extreme stress on staff’
The first report, submitted on December 15, also addressed the management of the epidemic. Then the authority said that “the strategy to protect the elderly has failed.”
In the second part of the report, submitted on Friday, the commission had a much broader mandate. There they report that pandemic preparedness was poor.
At the same time, they praise the assistant nurses.
“The fact that the health services were able to rapidly restructure and expand patient care is a credit to the staff,” says the committee, adding:
“The restructuring has put a lot of pressure on the staff, provided canceled and delayed care. So we will live with the consequences of the pandemic for a long time to come.”
According to Aftonbladet, the commission considered the following areas:
- The spread of the virus in Sweden
- Measures to reduce the spread of infection
- The ability of the health and care service to deal with an outbreak
- Testing and tracing of infection
- Reducing consequences for socially critical services
- Measures to reduce the consequences for individuals
- European Union and International Cooperation
- Consular work
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