Sweden rejects lockdown in its coronavirus fight – BBC Newsnight

Swathes of the world have gone on some form of lockdown to fight coronavirus, but in Sweden they are still open for business. Subscribe to our channel here: https://goo.gl/31Q53F

Over 100 countries have issued a full or partial lockdown as the world fights the coronavirus pandemic.

But one nation has taken the unusual step of continuing to have schools, shops and pubs open, albeit with some social distancing measures.

Sweden’s Chief Epidemiologist maintains this is the right approach for the Swedish people, but the decision is not with its detractors.

And more than 2000 people have died of Covid-19 there, compared to a combined total of fewer than 800 from neighbours Denmark, Norway and Finland – all of whom locked down.

Do the Swedes know something the rest of the world doesn’t? And how do they react to seeing much of the world take such a severe approach?

International Editor Gabriel Gatehouse reports.

#Coronavirus #Covid19 #Sweden

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In This Story: COVID-19

Covid-19 is the official WHO name given to the novel coronavirus which broke out in late 2019 and began to spread in the early months of 2020.

Symptoms of coronavirus

The main symptoms of coronavirus are:

  • a persistent new cough (non productive, dry)
  • a high temperature (e.g. head feels warm to the touch)
  • shortness of breath (if this is abnormal for the individual, or increased)

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Denmark, officially the Kingdom of Denmark, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe.  The capital is Copenhagen. Denmark proper, consists of a peninsula, Jutland, and an archipelago of 443 islands.

The Kingdom of Denmark comprises Denmark proper and the two autonomous territories in the North Atlantic Ocean: the Faroe Islands and Greenland. Home rule was established in the Faroe Islands in 1948; in Greenland home rule was established in 1979 and further autonomy in 2009.

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