Infection protection expert: "No reason for the virus"

Neither the Foreign Ministry nor the Public Health Authority see any reason to discourage travel or give any other recommendations regarding protection against the virus outbreak in China. The new suspected cases that have emerged in Finland give no reason for action in Sweden.

- It is expected that more suspicious cases will appear here and there. Everything else would be strange considering that flu symptoms are common this year, and even considering that people are moving a lot in the world, says Anders Tegnell, who is a state epidemiologist at the Public Health Authority and is responsible for monitoring infectious diseases.

He sees no reason to initiate fever checks in general at airports, neither in Sweden nor elsewhere.

- It makes sense to investigate people who leave the infected area. It is now being done in China and experience from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa has proved to be a successful measure, says Anders Tegnell.

The people who died from the new corona virus have been older and multi-sick people. The youngest among the deceased was 48 years, the oldest was 89. No children or healthy people are among the deceased in the disease, according to Anders Tegnell and the World Health Organization.

WHO has no current plans for new guidelines or recommendations.

- The networks and systems work well globally. In China, measures are needed to reduce the spread. This virus does not appear to spread as effectively as SARs, especially in health care environments, states state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell.

Sweden has had suspected cases and a number of patients have been isolated.

- But so far, all cases have been written off. It would have been almost strange if we had not had suspected cases, given how we travel. Swedish healthcare is informed and knows what to do. There are routines, says Anders Tegnell.