Sweden makes COVID policy U-turn

Sweden's public health authority has made another policy U-turn amid growing evidence that the nation faces a dangerous winter with the novel coronavirus pandemic.

Contradicting earlier advice, the agency now says children who live with somebody infected by the coronavirus should stay at home and not go to school or nursery.

It comes as the latest data showed the nation is now fighting a second wave in the pandemic and critics argue that Sweden has underestimated the potential for asymptomatic transmission of COVID-19.

Last month Swedish Prime Minister Stefan Lofven was forced to change strategy, implementing new measures that also include a ban on public gatherings of more than eight people.

Also last month, State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, who has advocated the country's liberal approach to the outbreak, admitted that Sweden has seen no signs of herd immunity slowing the spread of COVID-19 as new infection numbers soar.

The high-profile scientist had claimed that Sweden would fare better than other countries in the second wave after building up a higher level of immunity.

But Tegnell now says it is still not clear to what extent transmission rates are reduced when more people have been exposed to the virus.

In an interview with Bloomberg on Tuesday, Tegnell said it is "very hard" to understand. He said: "It's obvious that it does slow down transmission, but it's been difficult to understand how large that effect is and how it should be weighed against other factors that speed up transmission." That "balance may have been different than I and many others believed."

Sweden's main ruling party, the Social Democrats, saw a significant decline in support in a fresh poll, adding to signs that voters are worried about the nation's COVID-19 strategy.

In total, 6,681 people have died with COVID-19 in the country, one of the highest per capita death rates in Europe, and a higher rate than neighbors Norway, Denmark and Finland. Sweden reported 517 deaths with COVID-19 in the two weeks to Friday.

Observers say the government is now sidelining the controversial Tegnell. "There's certainly a split, and I'm pretty sure that many in the government have rather lost faith in the public health agency," said Nicholas Aylott, an associate politics professor at Stockholm's Sodertorn University, quoted by the Daily Telegraph.

"By some counts, we've now got exactly the same level of spread of the virus that we had in the spring, and that's about as clear a refutation of Tegnell's strategy as you could wish for."

Joacim Rocklov, an epidemiologist at the Umea university, told the Financial Times the country had suffered a "systemic failure", in large part due to it underplaying the risks of asymptomatic transmission.

"There's been no testing of asymptomatic people, not even those returning from holidays abroad. It's a mistake," he said.

Rocklov said it looked like Sweden was now changing strategy. "People are realizing that it has been dangerous guesswork over the second wave being less severe. It's starting to change public opinion."