Corona fight successful in Gällivare municipality

The corona eruption in Gällivare in June was a shock to the municipality, the county and the country.

During week 25 (June 15 to June 21), 168 infected people were reported and during week 26 there were even more - 178 infected and most in Sweden in terms of population.

But after that it had turned down and during week 28 (July 6 to July 12) 37 people became infected.

During the last two weeks, the number of covid-19 patients has thus decreased by 80 percent or by just over 140 people a week.

- The curves point quite downwards now. It looks good in Gällivare, says infection control doctor Anders Nystedt.

Gällivare's municipal director Monica Flodström is very pleased that the spread of infection has decreased and that the curves are pointing downwards.

- It looks much better and I am extremely happy about that, but we remain at a high level despite that and this is definitely not over yet. We must continue to take responsibility and manage social distancing. With the figures we have received today, I do not think we can ease our restrictions yet, she says.

Monica Flodström emphasizes that the staff situation is still strained in healthcare and that everyone is working intensively to reduce the spread of infection even more so that the staff can have a holiday.

- At the moment, it is a bit uncertain if we do not continue to depress the morbidity figures. It's not fun, but we must ensure that everyone gets the care they need, she says. 

The Norrbotten region and the infection control doctor Anders Nystedt had information on Tuesday with the county's municipalities about the development of covid-19.

According to the new statistics, Älvsbyn is best off with five cases and 0.62 infected per thousand inhabitants, followed by Haparanda with ten cases and 1.03 infected per thousand inhabitants.

And Arjeplog has not had anyone who fell ill with covid-19 in seven weeks.

The national average is 7.34 infected per thousand inhabitants and Gälliivare (32.9 cases per thousand inhabitants) and Kiruna (9.31 cases per thousand inhabitants) are the only Norrbotten municipalities that report higher figures than that.