Sweden’s health agency seeks delay in easing of pandemic restrictions

People wait for their turn to enter Stockholm’s City Hall, known as venue for the Nobel Prize banquets and converted now into a COVID-19 vaccination centre for a day on Feb. 21, 2021. (File/AFP)

• The agency had previously proposed that some restrictions be lifted from April 11

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s health agency said on Tuesday it had asked the government to postpone a planned easing of some restrictions aimed at slowing the spread of COVID-19 by nearly a month as the country grappled with a third wave of the virus.
The agency had previously proposed that some restrictions, such as a limit on the number of visitors to amusement parks, concerts and football matches of only eight people, be lifted from April 11.
“The spread of COVID-19 is accelerating with an increased burden on health care as a result,” it said in a statement.
“The Swedish Public Health Agency therefore proposes that the date for when certain activities should be able to open up be postponed until May 3, provided that the infection situation improves.”
Sweden has mostly relied on voluntary measures to slow the pandemic but gradually increased restrictions after the infections picked up pace toward the end of last year.