STOCKHOLM (Reuters) – Sweden, which has shunned lockdowns throughout the pandemic, registered 4,697 new coronavirus cases on Friday, the highest number since the start of the pandemic, Health Agency statistics showed.
The increase compares with a high of 4,034 new daily cases recorded on Thursday. The Health Agency has said the peak during the spring probably ran many times higher but went unrecorded due to less testing at the time.
Sweden on Friday registered 20 new deaths from COVID-19, taking the total to 6,022 deaths. Sweden’s death rate per capita is several times higher than Nordic neighbours’ but lower than some larger European countries’, such as Spain and Britain.
(Reporting by Johan Ahlander, editing by Anna Ringstrom)
