More and more Swedes are questioning the national strategy to fight the coronavirus. Their fears are related to the risk of overloading the healthcare system.

The research organization DN / Ipsos published the results of a new survey two days ago. As it turns out, in the conditions of the second wave of the pandemic, 82% of Swedes are “more or less” worried about the capacity of the country’s healthcare system. Confidence in the government has also dropped significantly – from 55% in October to 42% now. In addition, more and more Swedes believe that the government is fighting the coronavirus ineffectively. The number of such people was 31% last month, while the November figure has already risen to 44%.

At the initial stage of the pandemic, Sweden’s light-hearted approach and refraining from quarantine led to a great difference of opinion. All this considering that the mortality rate was much higher than in the neighboring Scandinavian countries. After a relatively quiet summer, the incidence of infections increased significantly and hospitals began to fill up.

As of Tuesday, 70% of resuscitation beds are currently occupied in Sweden, of which 220 are COVID-19 patients. There are a total of 642 resuscitation beds in the country, though authorities say their number will increase if needed.

“It is quite clear that the combination of infection growth and government measures has sharply exacerbated public anxiety,” said Niklas Kahlenbring, an Ipsos analyst.

Johan Carlosn, director of the Swedish Public Health Agency, made a presentation at a briefing with Prime Minister Stephen Lowen on Tuesday. According to him, the daily infection rate by December could reach 8 thousand. For comparison: last week in Sweden, on average, 4700 new cases were recorded. According to Carlson, the peak is expected next month.

The Swedish National Statistics Agency said earlier this week that the damage caused by COVID-19 would have a significant impact on life expectancy. The latter has been growing steadily for more than a century.

Sweden is one of the European countries most affected by the pandemic, according to a study by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). The researchers came to this conclusion with a correlation between mortality and infection rates. Sweden has also been found to be the most vulnerable in curbing the spread of infection.

“In the third wave, the health care system will be busier than before,” said Thomas Linden, head of the Swedish National Council for Health and Welfare.