Swedish News, May 4:

Sweden's R-number below 1; the amount of new cases is going down. No tracking through mobile phones in Sweden. The cheapest food in Sweden? The global vaccine initiative 

  • A total of 2,679 people with confirmed covid-19 have died in Sweden as of May 3, according to the latest figures from the Public Health Authority.

  • Sweden's R-number below 1
    Sweden's R-number has been below 1.0 since April 21 according to Swedish Public Health Authority statistics. “The R-number talks about how quickly the infection spreads, reproduces. If it is below 1.0, then every patient does not even infect a person, which means that the pandemic will gradually ebb,” says state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell. Why the R-number matters: Why societies shut down
    During the daily public health meetings of the Public Health Authority, the R-number of the corona center, the so-called reproduction number, was discussed. Especially in comparison with Nordic neighbors. On April 6, Norway announced that they had the infection under control because their R-figure was 0.7, which means that on average every sick person infects 0.7 people. Anders Tegnell confirmed that Sweden now has an R-figure below 1.0 and that this means that the spread of infection no longer increases. “We have been on R-numbers below 1.0 for a few weeks. It is just below, so there is no big difference but we are on a kind of plateau. But it is not going up anyways, and with this disease you must see it as a positive sign,” says the state epidemiologist. According to the Public Health Authority's calculations, the R-figure in Sweden was at 1.4 in the beginning of April. From April 10 to April 20, the figure bounced around 1.0, and since April 21, it has been consistently below. The latest R-figure in the report is from April 25 and stands at 0.85. How high the R-number is can be affected by various measures, such as social distancing and staying home when you are ill.

  • Yet, statistics suggest the pandemic is abating: Sweden's reproduction number for the corona virus has been below 1.0 since April 21

  • 10 new Swedish deaths in covid-19 during Sunday, May 3
    A total of 2,679 people with confirmed covid-19 have died in Sweden as of May 3, according to the latest figures from the Public Health Authority. This means that 10 new deaths were reported during Sunday May 3. The number of confirmed infected who have been reported is now 22,317, an increase of 235 new cases in the past 24 hours. These are weekend figures that are not as reliable and will likely rise later in the week according to the Public Health Authority.

  • The cheapest food inSweden can be found in Värmland and Skaraborg. Photo: Anneli Nygårds, PRO.

  • No tracking through mobile phones in Sweden
    Infection tracking using mobile apps is planned in a number of countries, but in Sweden it is not relevant, at least not yet. This has recently been decided by the Public Health Authority. “The resources it would take to trace all people are not reasonable. The other aspect is that you have to corona-test a lot of people to get any effect from a tracing app,” says state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, who does not rule out that it may be relevant to use cell phones for tracking later.

  • The cheapest food in Sweden?
    The cheapest food can be found in Värmland and Skaraborg. By contrast, consumers in Norrbotten may pay an average of 6.6% more according to an annual survey of food prices made by PRO. Anyone who picked up the lunch basket in Norrbotten had to pay an average of SEK 843. Corresponding groceries in Skaraborg cost SEK 791, while the national average was SEK 812. In addition to differences in average prices, the difference between the most expensive and the cheapest store in the country was a staggering 39%, according to the survey. Shopping food online is generally more expensive. Compared to the average price in the physical stores, it costs ten percent more. PRO's survey of the e-commerce was done in collaboration with the price comparison site nätmat.se and also shows that food online is cheaper in the big cities than in other parts of the country. (PRO is Sweden's largest organization for retirees with 320,000 members, www.pro.se)
    The World Health Organization WHO has presented an initiative to speed up drugs, tests and vaccines against covid-19. French President Emmanuel Macron, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel were among the world leaders who attended a 90-minute video conference at the end of April to announce the plan. Microsoft founder Bill Gates and his wife Melinda Gates are also involved in the initiative. The World Health Organization said the collaboration will accelerate the development of "safe, effective drugs, tests and vaccines to prevent, diagnose and treat covid-19, the lung disease caused by the new coronavirus."
    No official representative from the U.S. participated in the global videoconferencing broadcast on the Web, where leaders from Europe, Africa, Asia, Central America and the Middle East interacted. Representatives of the pharmaceutical industry also participated in the video conference.