New law gives Sweden power to impose virus restrictions
Sweden, which has long shunned lockdowns and face mask orders as tools in fighting the coronavirus pandemic, has given its government power to act more forcefully to stem the spread of the disease.
Parliament on Friday passed an emergency law that will allow the government to limit the number of people in shops, businesses and public places, like theaters and public swimming pools, or even order their closure in case of violations. The government will also be able to fine individuals for breaking coronavirus rules.
The new powers go into effect Sunday, freeing the government to do more than make recommendations, as it has thus far. But with the country struggling to battle a second wave of the coronavirus, and with emergency wards filling up to critical capacity, the government said it needed more tools.
As of Saturday, Sweden’s total death toll stood at 9,433. The country now has 93 deaths per 100,000 people, less than Britain, which has 120, but far more than its neighbor Norway, with 9.
“We see a great risk that we will be in a difficult situation for some time ahead,” Prime Minister Stefan Lofven told the SVT network. “Of course, that means the pandemic law will be used. And we will be using it in the near future.”
In a separate decision implemented Thursday, face masks, long deemed ineffective by Swedish health officials, are now being recommended for use during rush hour on public transportation. They are not mandatory.
In April, when much of the rest of the world went into lockdowns, Swedes were able to keep going to bars and restaurants, with the government and health officials saying they didn’t believe in lockdowns. The country’s Public Health Authority issued some coronavirus prevention recommendations, but the government legally wasn’t able to order the sort of blanket stay-at-home measures used in other European countries.
E.U. OK’S INCREASING DOSES FROM VIRUS VACCINE VIALS
The European Union’s drug agency has approved doctors drawing one more dose from each vial of the coronavirus vaccine made by Pfizer-BioNTech, in a move that — combined with the purchase of 300 million extra shots of the serum — could speed up the pace of vaccinations in the 27nation bloc.
The European Medicines Agency said its human medicines committee recommended updating the product information for the vaccine to clarify that each vial contains six doses instead of the five that were advised when it originally greenlighted the PfizerBioNTech vaccine on Dec. 21.
German Health Ministry spokesman Hanno Kautz told reporters in Berlin that the change would come into effect immediately, boosting available doses of the vaccine by 20%.
Many doctors across the EU have already been drawing six doses of the vaccine from each vial, a practice that is already permitted in the United States, Britain and elsewhere.
Pharmaceutical companies regularly put more vaccine than necessary into vials so that minimum dosage can be ensured even if there is some spillage.
The news came shortly after the EU’s executive arm said it had secured 300 million extra doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.
Combined with a contract with Moderna for its vaccine, the EU now has the capacity to vaccinate 380 million people, Von der Leyen said, more than 80% of its population.
The EU has sealed six vaccine contracts for up to 2 billion doses, with Moderna, AstraZeneca-Oxford, Sanofi-GSK, Janssen Pharmaceutica NV, Pfizer-BioNTech and CureVac. But only the Pfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines have been approved for use so far in the bloc.
The European Commission’s announcement came amid growing criticism, notably in Germany, about the decision to let the commission handle vaccine purchases for all EU member nations.