Sweden fears graver COVID-19 situation as people return from holidays

A state epidemiologist in Sweden warned on Tuesday of a spike in COVID-19 infection rates as the winter break comes to an end, reported Xinhua.

"We are facing a potentially serious situation next week when more people are due to return to their workplaces," state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, told a news conference on Tuesday, "and it's therefore more important than ever to stay at home at the slightest sign of a symptom."

Tegnell said workplaces are a major source of infection and urged employers to allow staff members to work remotely as far as possible.

While the number of infections is currently going down in the capital city of Stockholm, other regions, especially in the south and on the west coast, are seeing a rise in cases and the pressure on the health care system is still high.

The number of ICU admissions does not look set to go down, either, with 517 out of 753 beds currently occupied, 378 of them by COVID-19 patients, according to Thomas Linden, Chief Medical Officer at the National Board of Health and Welfare.

Sweden has also registered 13 cases of the mutant coronavirus strain that has been spreading rapidly in Britain and one case of the strain currently spreading in South Africa.

According to statistics from the Public Health Agency, Sweden has now confirmed nearly 470,000 COVID-19 cases, with nearly 9,000 dead.

As the world is struggling to contain the pandemic, vaccination is underway in some countries with the already-authorized coronavirus vaccines.

Meanwhile, 232 candidate vaccines are still being developed worldwide -- 60 of them in clinical trials -- in countries including Germany, China, Russia, Britain and the United States, according to information released by the World Health Organization on Dec. 29.