Swedish News, April 14:

114 new deaths - over 1,000 dead. Dire death toll among those in elderly housing. Almost twice as many job seekers. Small grocery stores benefit from the crisis. 

  • Sweden's higher death toll compared to neighboring countries is due to the amount of infected in elderly housing according to epidemiologist Anders Tegnell. "What we do in the country must have an effect," says State Epidemiologist Tegnell, "but the amount of deaths among elderly is troubling."

  • 114 new deaths - over 1,000 dead
    1,033 people in Sweden have died from covid-19, according to the latest statistics from the Public Health Authority. That's 114 more than yesterday. 915 have received or are receiving intensive care. So far, 11,445 people in the country have been confirmed to be infected by the coronavirus, of whom 497 have tested positive over the past 24 hours. During Easter, the number of deaths has been at a lower level than earlier in April, which should be interpreted with caution. According to the authority, a more reliable death rate can not be expected until later this week.

  • The number of people who have registered as job seekers at the Arbetsförmedlingen, AF, the Swedish Employment Service, has almost doubled compared to a year ago.

  • Dire death toll among those in elderly housing
    State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell responded to the critique from 22 researchers that Sweden has relatively high death rates, allegedly approaching Italy's. According to Tegnell, there are fundamental errors in the article, which was published as an Op-Ed in Dagens Nyheter. Among other things, Italy now only registers deaths in hospitals. According to him, Sweden's higher death toll compared to neighboring countries is due to the amount of infected in elderly housing. Nearly half of all deaths over 70 are in elderly homes and the causes for this are now being investigated.

  • Almost twice as many job seekers
    The number of people who have registered as job seekers at the Arbetsförmedlingen, AF, the Swedish Employment Service, has almost doubled compared to a year ago. From March 1 to today, more than 82,000 have registered as unemployed. This is an increase of over 89 percent compared to the same period in 2019. In March alone this year, AF received more than 54,500 new applicants.

  • Small grocery stores benefit from the crisis
    Smaller grocery stores and stores in remote areas have experienced a boom during the corona crisis. For the Ica retail chain, just over 600 convenience stores increased sales by more than 12 percent in March compared to the same month last year. The increased sales is mainly in areas with summer houses where there is usually slightly higher sales during holiday times according to the retail chain.