Update on the Corona in the Kingdom of

August 17, 2020

As of today, the Swedish Public Health Authorities announced that 4 new deaths have been confirmed within the last 24 hours due to the Coronavirus. Since Covid-19 reached Sweden the total mortality rate is now 5 787 people. 85 045 people have been confirmed infected and 2 546 people are in intensive care. The corona pandemic shows no signs of abating. The World Health Organization (WHO) is once again reporting on a new global daily record. For Saturday, the WHO gives the figure 294,237 for the number of new cases of coronavirus infection in the world. A total of 9,985 corona-related deaths were recorded simultaneously. The total number of confirmed cases of infection is now about 21 million, and at least 755,000 people have died due to the virus. In reality, the numbers are believed to be clearly higher. In absolute numbers, most reported cases are in the United States, Brazil, India and Russia. The Swedish Public Health Agency makes the wrong assessment of children's infectivity, write 26 researchers, who are members of Vetenskapsforum covid-19, on DN Debatt. According to the researchers, there is now data from South Korea and the United States that proves that the children are contagious - and data from Sweden that proves that the children can become seriously ill. They also reason about the fact that the Swedish cases of infection have decreased since the schools closed, and believe that the concern about an increased spread of infection before the start of school is justified. "Because children are contagious, can become seriously ill, and it is unclear today how a mild infection also affects their future health, we should already at the start of school take measures to keep the infection down," they write. The researchers suggest, among other things, that mouth protection should be worn in school, that sports should be kept outdoors, that meals should be eaten class by class and group teaching avoided. They also suggest that children in families where someone belongs to a risk group should be allowed to receive home schooling - and urge parents to provide their children with mouth protection regardless of recommendations.

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"It is now, when infection rates are relatively low, that we have a second chance to take control of the pandemic," they write. But according to state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell, they have over-interpreted the data from the study they are referring to. “They draw the wrong conclusion, children very rarely infect adults,” says Anders Tegnell to news agency TT. He says he has been in contact with the researchers behind the study to which the authors refer. The 26 researchers write that the number of cases skyrocketed in the countries ten days after the schools and other parts of society were reopened on May 17, but it is a wrong conclusion to say that it was the school students, who drove the pandemic, says Anders Tegnell. “It is not the school opening and students in the school that drove the pandemic, it is to overinterpret data,” says Anders Tegnell. The researchers list a number of measures before the start of school, but several of them are already recommended by the National Agency for Education, Tegnell emphasizes. Several schools are adapting the children's schedule to reduce the pressure on public transport. The researchers also want both teachers and students to wear mouth protection to reduce the spread of infection. “The school is not an optimal environment for mouth protection, for purely practical reasons. I doubt the effects of that,” says Anders Tegnell. During the corona pandemic, distance learning has become a commonplace for students around the world. Now a new study from Örebro University shows that a majority - 85 percent - of European students think that the scheme has worked well, reports SVT Nyheter Örebro. “Most people perceive that it has gone quite well. They realized the seriousness of the situation and as long as they look positively at their studies, they try to solve it in the best way,” says Kai Wistand, senior lecturer in informatics at the Örebro university, to SVT. The study is based on responses from 1,700 students from various universities in Europe, about 300 of them from Örebro University. 90 questions were answered via a web form at the end of May and the beginning of June. Although most people think it is okay with distance learning, every third student reports a technical problem. “This includes slow internet, and a lack of work equipment,” says Sirajul Islam, associate professor of informatics, in a press release from Örebro University. Young people are responsible for a growing part of the new corona cases in the world. And the cases among young people between the ages of 15 and 24 have become three times as large in five months, writes DN. Now the WHO is going out and warning young people who take the virus too lightly.

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“Young people also run risks and one of the big challenges we have in front of us is to convince them of that risk. Facts indicate that the new peaks we see in some countries are driven by young people who are letting go of the garden now that it is summer in the northern hemisphere,” WHO chief Ghebreyesus is quoted in DN. The organization believes that young people who go to the pub and to the beach are the ones driving the increase in the number of new cases. Sweden is following the trend. Young people aged 20 to 29 accounted for close to 40 percent of the newly confirmed corona falls in Sweden during week 32, according to figures produced by DN. Anders Tegnell now says that young people can be a new engine in the Swedish spread of infection. “It is possible that this is the case. It may be the young people who move a lot during the summer and meet new people the most. Without having any data behind it, I think it is a possible explanation,” says Anders Tegnell to the newspaper.

Created by: Crisis Committee Monitoring and Taking the Required Procedures Regarding Coronavirus in Accredited Countries by the Embassy of Libya - Sweden : August 17, 2020

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