Swedish News:

Small-town shops in Sweden are coping better with the crisis / Stockholm could have 40 percent immunity / 26 new deaths reported on July 17 / Calm season worrisome for Swedish museums 

  • Small-town shops in Sweden are coping better with the crisis
    The trade association Svensk Handel predicts a recovery for merchants during the summer, a many spend their holiday at home. But to which extent also depends on the location of the store. Cities that are used to foreign tourists contributing to revenues, such as Stockholm and Gothenburg, will probably do worse. One example of a small town doing better than average is Enköping (pop 30,000 and an hour by car Northwest Stockholm), where the retailers in the city center have done well, according to the local merchants organization.

  • Stockholm could have 40 percent immunity
    Immunity to covid-19 can be as high as 40 percent in Stockholm, according to calculations from the Swedish Public Health Agency, FHM. "This would be positive and there is much to suggest this is the case," FHM's Director-General Johan Carlson told Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter. The proportion of immune in Stockholm, with antibodies and T cells, would in that case be twice as high as in the rest of Sweden. If the figures are correct, Stockholm is approaching herd immunity, which occurs when 40-45 percent of the population can no longer be infected.
    Another 26 deaths from covid-19 have been registered in Sweden on July 17. The total death toll in the country is now 5,619 people, according to the Public Health Agency. During the past 24 hours, another 404 new cases of infection have been registered. A total of 77,281 people have been confirmed infected so far.

  • Calm season worrisome for Swedish museums
    The summer season at Sweden's major museums is ominously calm. The lack of foreign tourists means that the number of visitors risks being the lowest in many years. Sweden's large museums have been able to open their gates after barricading again during the crisis - but visitors have been happy with their absence. Among other things, The Vasa Museum - with 1.5 million visitors last year - is having a hard time. One reason is that 85% of the visitors are usually foreign tourists.