Sweden Now Has the World’s Highest Death Rate
Global Health NOW: Knews letter
Sweden—where authorities avoided strict lockdowns enacted elsewhere—now has the world’s highest per capita death rate from COVID-19.
In the past week, the country reached an average of 6.25 deaths per million inhabitants—topping other European hotspots like Spain, Italy, and the UK for the first time, according to Our World in Data - ▻https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus-sweden, Reuters reports - ►https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-coronavirus-sweden-casualties/sweden-tops-europe-covid-19-deaths-per-capita-over-last-seven-days-idUSKBN2.
Also throwing Sweden’s approach into question: A study found that just 7.3% of people in Stockholm developed coronavirus antibodies by late April, Reuters reports - ►https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/05/20/swedish-antibody-study-shows-little-sign-of-herd-immunity.
Swedish authorities have rebuffed claims that they’ve taken a deliberate “herd immunity” strategy, saying their intent is to slow the virus enough for health system to cope long term, rather than attempt to suppress it altogether.
WHO emergencies chief Michael Ryan has praised the approach, saying " there may be lessons to be learnt from our colleagues in Sweden,” The Local reports .
▻https://www.thelocal.se/20200520/sweden-in-it-for-the-long-haul-as-country-records-most-deaths-per-capita-in