Sweden to extend pandemic legislation till 2022: PM

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Stockholm, Aug 13 (IANS) The Swedish government is set to extend legislation allowing it to introduce restrictions to curb the spread of Covid-19, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven announced on Thursday.

"Sweden must be well-prepared in the event of a deteriorating situation or new outbreaks," Lofven said in a joint press conference with the Public Health Agency, adding that the spread of infection "is no longer at low levels."

The so-called "pandemic law" was introduced on January 10 and was supposed to end on September 30. It is now expected to be extended to January 31, 2022, the Xinhua news agency reported.

Under the pandemic law, the government can limit opening times of bars and restaurants, as well as the number of people allowed at public events, in shops, and on long-distance bus and train journeys.

The prime minister's announcement was welcomed by the Public Health Agency. "We have seen that the situation can change quickly, which leads to more aggressive variants taking over," said the agency's Director-General Johan Carlson.

The government has also tasked the agency with analysing the risk of Covid-19 outbreaks during autumn and winter.

However, although the situation has worsened since restrictions were lifted at the start of the summer holidays, no new restrictions were announced at the press conference.

From July 26 to August 1, 3,451 new infections were confirmed in Sweden, according to the statistics from the Public Health Agency. This is an increase of 30 per cent from the previous week.

The agency's statistics also show that by Thursday, 80.7 per cent of the adult population aged 18 or older had received at least one Covid-19 vaccine dose, while 57.6 per cent had been fully vaccinated.

--IANS

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