WHO: Sweden’s Strategy Against COVID-19 Should be the “Model” For All
The Head of the Health Emergencies Programme of the World Health Organization, epidemiologist Michael J. Ryan, said Sweden’s strategy to avoid harsh lockdown in fight against the coronavirus can now be seen as a “model” for the rest of the world.
“Sweden relied on the relationship with the citizens, and on the citizens’ ability and willingness to implement physical distancing and self-regulation… I believe that if we are to reach a new normal situation, Sweden can in many ways represent a model for the future”, he said.
Ryan’s comments come amid the rising global controversy concerning Sweden’s relatively relaxed strategy for dealing with the deadly pathogen. Ryan said the criticism of Sweden’s strategy is largely unfair, more so as the country’s totals remain low in relation to the rest of Europe. Sweden relied on mutual understanding and cooperation with its citizens, he said.
“They’ve been doing the testing, they’ve ramped up their capacity to do intensive care quite significantly, and their health system has always remained within its capacity to respond to the number of cases that they’ve been experiencing”, he added.
Professor Johan Giesecke, the leading consultant on the Swedish model, has repeatedly denounced draconic measures in fight against the new illness, saying there is virtually no evidence to support them, and worse even- they facilitate the build-up of dictatorial power.
In an interview with Unherd, Giesecke said: “What I’m saying is that people who will die a few months later are dying now and that’s taking months from their lives so that’s maybe not nice. But comparing that to the effects of the lockdown… what am I most afraid of? It’s the dictatorial trends in eastern Europe; Orban is now dictator of Hungary forever; there’s no finishing that. I think the same is popping up in other countries; it may pop up in other more established countries as well. I think the ramifications can be huge from this.”
By Elene Dzebisashvili