Heavy! The world’s first country declared the end of the epidemic

Biological exploration source: biological exploration / Qiao Weijun
Introduction: is “mass immunization” feasible?

Sweden officially announced on the morning of February 9th Beijing time: from now on, it will no longer regard COVID-19 as a major social harm. The Swedish government will also lift the remaining restrictions, including the termination of large-scale COVID-19 testing, becoming the first country in the world to announce the end of the epidemic.

Due to the high vaccination rate and less serious Omicron epidemic, fewer hospitalized cases and fewer deaths, Sweden announced last week that it would lift the restrictions, in fact, it announced the end of COVID-19.

Swedish health minister Harlan Glenn said that the epidemic we know is over. She said that as far as the speed of transmission is concerned, the virus is still there, but COVID-19 is no longer classified as a social hazard.

From the 9th, bars and restaurants were allowed to open after 11 p.m., the number of customers was no longer limited, and the admission limit of large indoor venues and the requirement to show vaccine passes were also cancelled. At the same time, only medical staff and other high-risk groups have the right to free PCR neocoronanucleic acid testing after they have symptoms, and other people with symptoms are required to stay at home.

“We have reached the point where the cost and relevance of the new crown test are no longer reasonable,” said Karin tegmark Wiesel, director of the Swedish public health agency “If we were to test everyone infected with the new crown, it would mean spending 5 billion kroner (about 3.5 billion yuan) a week,” she added

Pan Kania, a professor at the University of Exeter School of medicine in the UK, believes that Sweden has taken a lead and other countries will inevitably join in, that is, people no longer need large-scale testing, but only need to test in sensitive places where high-risk groups such as hospitals and nursing homes are located.

However, the most staunch critic of the “mass immunization” policy, Elmer, a virology professor at umeo University in Sweden, does not think so. He told Reuters that novel coronavirus pneumonia is still a big burden on society. We should be more patient. At least for a few weeks, the money to continue testing is enough.

The Reuters said that novel coronavirus pneumonia is still being hospitalized in Sweden, which is roughly the same as last year’s period in the Delta in 2200. Now, with a wide range of free testing stopped, no one can know the exact epidemic data in Sweden.

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Responsible editor: Liuli


Post time: Feb-18-2022