At present, 83 people need intensive care in Stockholm County for covid, which in principle corresponds to as many intensive care places as the county had before the pandemic.

- What we thought was a plateau and possible beginning of decline, has been changed to its exact opposite.

It was exactly this development we did not want to see, says health and medical care director Björn Eriksson during Wednesday's press conference.

He continues:

- This shows that we Stockholmers are crowded too much.

The region currently has about 160 intensive care units which are occupied by both covid patients and other patients.

A difference from this spring is that even the pressure on regular intensive care is now high.

- With such a high occupancy rate, there is a risk that the threshold for receiving intensive care will be high, so that those who would otherwise have been given a place will not receive it, says Björn Persson, operations manager for intensive care at Karolinska, to DN.

The staff situation is also strained.

During the week, Karolinska had a reinforcement of intensive care staff from Blekinge.

Vaccine for all Stockholmers 2021

The first doses of vaccine will be approved at the end of December and in January the first 113,000 doses are expected to be delivered to Stockholm.

In the first phase, 55,000 people will be offered vaccines.

Each individual should receive two doses.

- We see that the vaccinations will be carried out in three phases.

Those with the greatest need come first, the elderly and risk groups and those who work in health and care are priority groups.

We also see that staff who meet vulnerable people in healthcare are prioritized, says Magnus Thyberg, head of department for the health and medical care administration.

Magnus Thyberg believes that vaccination will be the way out of the pandemic.

In Phase 2, the remaining people in risk groups will be vaccinated, as well as people over the age of 70.

In Phase 3, everyone over the age of 18 must be offered vaccination.

- As we see that more and more people get vaccinated, we also see that the possibility of dealing with the pandemic increases.

Fewer will need hospital care and fewer will die.