Sweden sets new daily COVID case record, says ICU beds not full

STOCKHOLM: Sweden, whose unorthodox pandemic strategy placed it in the global spotlight, registered a new record number of daily COVID-19 cases on Thursday, though it said it still has spare bed capacity in hospital intensive wards.

The Stockholm region, among the hardest hit, appealed to the National Health Board on Wednesday to send it more hospital staff, as COVID infections have filled intensive care wards in the capital.

Sweden, which has not opted for the kind of lockdown adopted by most other European nations, registered 7,935 new coronavirus cases on Thursday, Health Agency statistics showed, above a previous high of 7,240 daily cases recorded on Nov. 20.

Sweden still has 148 unoccupied beds in intensive care wards nationwide, corresponding to 22% free capacity, said Irene Nilsson-Carlsson, senior public health adviser at the National Health Board.

"It is not an acute crisis," she told a news conference, adding that around half of the patients now in Swedish intensive care wards were COVID-19 patients.

Sweden registered 58 new fatalities on Thursday, taking the total death toll to 7,354. Sweden's death rate per capita is several times higher than that of its Nordic neighbours but lower than some larger European countries.

In an effort to curb a severe second wave, the government has tightened recommendations for public gatherings, while high schools have been told to switch to distance learning for the rest of the term.