Swedish military unit in Umea hit by COVID-19 outbreak

Twenty-three out of 56 army recruits at a military unit in the northern Swedish town of Umea have been confirmed infected with the novel coronavirus that causes COVID-19. One officer has also been confirmed sick, reported Xinhua, quoting Swedish Television report on Monday.

Extensive testing was carried out at the unit after five soldiers were confirmed sick with COVID-19 last week. The test results showed that a further 18 recruits had contracted the coronavirus, as well as one army employee. All 24 have now been isolated in a separate section of the garrison, according to a press statement from the Swedish Armed Forces.

The soldiers are all part of the CBRN unit, whose head, Philip Bacchus, told Swedish Television that because such a large number of cases have been confirmed, recruits who had previously tested negative for COVID-19 will be tested again.

The national CBRN Defence Centre is the Swedish Armed Forces' knowledge center for protection against chemical, biological, radiation and nuclear threats. The center's primary responsibility is to provide other military units the best possible conditions for completing their missions even if being exposed to CBRN weapons, according to the Swedish Armed Forces' website.

Sweden has so far counted 5,787 deaths and 85,045 infections in a population of over 10 million. It has neither imposed a lockdown -- even during the peak of the pandemic -- nor asked people to wear face masks in public, quoting a lack of support in research. Currently, Sweden is the only Scandinavian state that does not recommend the use of face masks.