New rules for quarantine expected today
The Public Health Agency are due to present new rules for quarantining today. The alternatives expected to be presented are fewer days in quarantine for those who are staying at home due to another family member being infected with Covid-19, or removing the quarantine requirement completely for some groups of key workers, TT predicts.
Health minister Lena Hallengren confirmed that there will be new rules coming today in the news programme Aktuellt on Wednesday evening.
“The Public Health Agency set quarantine rules. They will be announcing altered quarantine rules tomorrow due to the fact that we can see that some societally important functions are suffering,” Hallengren told SVT in Aktuellt.
Many in Sweden are currently quarantining because someone in the same household is ill, despite not having symptoms themselves. Some workplaces are reporting difficulties in functioning as usual, as so many employees are off, and students are struggling to get to school.
The current rules state that if someone in your household tests positive for Covid-19, you must isolate for 7 days.
Swedish vocabulary: karantän – quarantine
Swedes split on Nato membership
According to a study done for SVT by Novus, roughly the same proportion of Swedes are pro-Nato as those against.
37 percent of respondents were positive towards Nato membership, with slightly fewer, 35 percent, against the idea. 28 percent were unsure, SVT reports.
This differs from a previous study carried out in 2017, where 32 percent were positive and 43 percent were negative towards joining Nato.
Nato support is greatest amongst men, with a majority of Moderate and Sweden Democrat voters positive towards membership. Lowest support is seen in supporters of the Left Party. One fifth of Social Democrats want to join Nato.
A clear majority, 59 percent, answered that they were scared of Russia as a major world power, with 29 percent answering that they were scared of the USA as a world power.
“If we go back a few years, roughly a third were scared of Russia as a world power. Now it’s a clear majority, that’s easy to see,” Torbjörn Sjöström, CEO of Novus, told SVT.
Swedish vocabulary: stormakt – major world power
Storms causing power cuts and fallen trees
Strong winds, fallen trees and snowfall have caused issues on the roads during the night, causing multiple power cuts, TT reports.
Power cuts have been reported across the country, with households in areas of Värmland, Jönköping, Örebro county, Stockholm county, Östergötland county and Gävleborg county affected during the night.
Issues have also been reported on the roads, with snow and wind causing accidents and fallen trees. In Skåne, two motorways have been affected by falling trees, and in Dalarna two lorries have collided with the central reservation barrier and fallen into a ditch.
Vehicles vulnerable to wind have also been advised against crossing the Öresund bridge.
Swedish vocabulary: oväder – bad weather
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