After the Covid-19 epidemic, Sweden does not want to become the "pariah" of the summer holidays

Text by: RFI Follow

In Sweden, the country presents a mixed picture of this coronavirus epidemic. On the one hand, it spared its inhabitants compulsory confinement, and the daily life of the Swedes was not disrupted. On the other hand, the country has the highest death rate compared to the number of inhabitants of the Scandinavian countries. Result: while borders are opening all over Europe, Sweden's neighbors do not want to open their own.

Publicity

With our correspondent in Stockholm , Frédéric Faux 

The Swedish daily Aftonbladet cannot hide its concern: what if Sweden becomes the "pariah" of this summer vacation. The European Union recommended reopening the borders, encouraging countries facing the same situation with the coronavirus to act together. This is how we saw the German-speaking countries develop a travel space without constraint , just for their fellow citizens. The Baltic countries have done the same. But in Scandinavia, we are far from it.

In Denmark, the opposition wants, for example, to extend the residence ban which has been imposed on Swedes, except for frontier workers. In Norway, Norwegians who have gone to Sweden are asked to respect a quarantine of ten days. Finland has also imposed border restrictions.

Coordinated border reopening

It is to break this isolation that the Swedish Prime Minister, Stefan Löfven, multiplies the explanations, in particular for the foreign press: “  We have never closed our border to the other countries of the Union. We believe it is wise for the Commission to initiate a dialogue on how to reopen these borders in a more coordinated way than at the start of the crisis, when some closed them.  "

The fact remains that with a mortality rate of 380 per million inhabitants, and a virus which would have affected a quarter of the population in Stockholm, Sweden is in an epidemiological situation very different from that of its neighbors.

Our selection on the coronavirus

• Listen to our Coronavirus Info column 

• Our  explanations  :
→  What we know about the mode of contagion
→  Disparities and inequalities in the face of the coronavirus: what must be remembered
→  Triple therapy, Discovery… update on research
→  The race for the vaccine is in full swing
→  How to make a mask and use it well

• Our series  : "  The response, country by country  "

• After Covid-19, towards a new world?

• Each evening, find the State of the world and Africa facing the pandemic

• See also the files of RFI Savoirs on the Covid-19:
→  Birth of a pandemic
→  Everyday life put to the test
→  The history of epidemics
→  Science facing the Covid-19
→  The geopolitical consequences

Newsletter Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

Follow all international news by downloading the RFI application

• Sweden
• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine

On the same subject

European accents

Europeans are starting to get confused

Coronavirus: Despite the pandemic, Sweden has kept its schools open

Coronavirus: main migrant victims of the pandemic in Sweden