Swedish deputies slam govt handling of COVID-19

A parliamentary committee on Thursday unanimously criticized the Swedish government for its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, reported Xinhua.

Five of the Committee on the Constitution's 17 members belong to the ruling Social Democratic Party (SAP).

Besides slamming the government's crisis management, the deputies also found that the government had effectively hampered the independent Corona Commission's efforts to scrutinize its handling of the pandemic.

The committee found that the government did not satisfactorily document its work as no memorandums were taken until earlier this year.

This lack of documentation was problematic when the Corona Commission reviewed the government's handling of the pandemic, the committee concluded.

In February, the Corona Commission released its final report, which concluded that the government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic was too slow and characterized by a lack of leadership.

A report released by the Swedish National Audit Office two weeks ago was likewise critical of the government's conduct.

"The government and the authorities had not made sufficient preparations before the pandemic to be able to effectively secure the supply of protective equipment in the event of a crisis," it said in a press release.

"Regions and municipalities are responsible for protecting personnel from infection and therefore need to have emergency stocks of protective equipment," it said.

According to the Swedish Public Health Agency, the number of COVID-19-related deaths in the population of 10.4 million has recently surpassed 19,000.

Since April 1, Sweden no longer classifies COVID-19 as a "danger to society" and the related restrictions have also been removed.

However, in May the Public Health Agency said that it was prepared to introduce new measures to curb the spread of COVID-19 in case the country is hit by a fourth wave.