During the daily public health meetings of the Public Health Authority, the R-number of the corona center, the so-called reproduction number, was discussed. Especially in comparison with our Nordic neighbors. On April 6, Norway announced that they had the infection under control because their R-figure was 0.7, which means that on average every sick person infects 0.7 people.
"It's not going up anyways"Anders Tegnell confirms that Sweden now has an R-figure below 1.0 and that this means that the spread of infection no longer increases.
- We have been on R-numbers below 1.0 for a few weeks. It is just below, so there is no big difference but we are on a kind of plateau. But it is not going up anyways, and with this disease you must see it as a positive sign, says the state epidemiologist.
"The measures have had an effect"According to the Public Health Authority's calculations, the R-figure of 1.4 in Sweden was at the beginning of April. From April 10 to April 20, the figure bounced around 1.0, and since April 21, it has been consistently below. The latest R-figure in the report is from April 25 and stands at 0.85.
How high the R-number is can be affected by various measures, such as social distancing and staying home when you are ill.
- The fact that it is dropping is a sign that very much of what many in the community have done has had an effect, he says.