A dozen regions in Sweden have chosen to pause cell sampling, which is done to detect the cervical cancer precursor, due to the coronavirus. This is problematic in several ways, says Joakim Dillner, professor at Karolinska Institutet, who has researched human papillomavirus, HPV - which causes cellular changes - for over 30 years.

- There are hundreds of thousands of women who are not sampled and followed up and when you get started again you cannot work twice as fast. The day has only 24 hours, it is not possible to work in such a long break, he says.

Joakim Dillner believes that some sort of "crisis screening" will be required after the corona eruption in order to give priority to those with the highest risk of developing cervical cancer. Today, all women in Sweden between the ages of 23 and 50 are offered sampling every three years, and every five years thereafter.

- In order to catch up with emergency situations, one may need to prioritize. For example, it is not a huge idea to call people who show negative for HPV every three years, but now it is the law that everyone should be screened every three years, so I do not know how to deal with it. That's a huge problem.

Around 550 women suffer from cervical cancer in Sweden every year. There is a risk that someone may develop cancer while the cell samples are paused, according to Joakim Dillner.

- The risk is not huge, but I imagine there will be a couple of cases. If you have delays of three months or more, it is statistically measurable with more cancer.

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