For much of the past year, Swedes relied on their own intelligence and self-awareness to combat the Covid-19 pandemic. But today that has all changed with the government imposing special powers to bring a raging wave of infection under control.
Emergency powers adopted by parliament limit private and public gatherings to no more than eight people and gives officials power to order the closure of shopping centres and shops, as well as halt public transport and other assemblies.
The move means Sweden has come some distance since early spring, when it had a non-coercive approach to prevent the spread of the disease. This worked for a time. In the summer, the country’s infection rate was higher than its Nordic neighbours Finland and Norway, but it eschewed the strict lockdowns crippling other European countries.
The Swedish model was held up by some as an example of how to avoid lockdowns and their dire economic consequences. Advocates argued an enlightened population could generally abide by the rules and still socialise, work and function. The pioneer of the strategy, Anders Tegnell, was hailed as a visionary.
Face masks were largely dismissed as unnecessary, schools stayed open and society functioned almost normally. As late as mid-October, there was still no real cause concern. The average daily infection rate was around 1,000, but this was manageable.
Then the days got colder and shorter. People went to work, shopped, ate out and stayed indoors a lot more. A month later, the infection rate shot up to 5,000 a day and it is likely to rise.
With its hands-off approach under pressure and the death toll surging from three to 60 a day, the Swedish government led by Stefan Lofven had to act. Before Christmas, public gatherings of more than eight were banned and people were asked to severely limit socialising. Danes fed up with their own strict lockdown who had flocked to Stockholm were barred, and last month, a one-year ‘pandemic law’ was proposed that hinted at a pending lockdown.
That has since been rushed through Sweden’s parliament and passed on Friday, two months before schedule. Emergency laws come into force on Sunday, giving the government powers to close down shops, gyms and public transport, and making face masks mandatory during rush-hour commuting. Those caught breaking the restrictions will be fined.
What is also apparent is that after a significant dip in infections and deaths reported over Christmas, the government is bracing itself for another wave of Covid-19 that could threaten to overwhelm its health service.
"Swedish people had the discipline, understanding and intelligence to self-impose restrictions so they have not been locked down like in Britain and they've been able to be quite sensible about it," Geert van der Vossen, a Dutchman who moved to Sweden eight years ago, told The National. "But if you look at the numbers, I don't know if Sweden is that successful and it is not one of the best countries in holding the numbers down."
Mr van der Vossen, a mechanical engineer who builds special metal flowers for each of Sweden’s pandemic victims (there have been 9,262 so far), understood that after the drop-off during festive break, the country braced for an increase. “They said in advance that the numbers would be strange because of the way the statistics work and that they have not been putting out data for a number of days.”
The Swedish establishment also faces a public backlash. In his annual Christmas address last month, King Carl XVI Gustaf said the country had failed. “We have a large number who have died and that is terrible. It is something we all have to suffer with,” he said.
His words perhaps reflect that Sweden reported more than 2,000 coronavirus deaths in the past month and 535 in the past week alone. In contrast, Norway has suffered only 465 deaths during the entire pandemic, albeit with half of Sweden’s population.
Trust in senior figures eroded after Mr Lofven had to defend his visit to a shopping centre to buy a Christmas present for his wife, despite Swedish authorities repeatedly urging people to avoid doing so. “I fully understand if people think it’s weird,” Mr Lofven told Swedish broadcaster SVT.
Then came the resignation of Dan Eliasson, who headed the government’s public safety agency that sent out text messages to millions in Sweden urging them not to travel, who quit after it was revealed he went on holiday to Spain’s Canary Islands over Christmas.
While Britain is enduring a horrific wave of infections and deaths, it is in a strict national lockdown, a potential fate that awaits Sweden and other European countries.
“Cleary, we in Britain are not in a wonderful position to be criticising Sweden but it is clear that without people having that trust in the government, and being able to comply with basic rules, irrespective of lockdown, there's going to be problems,” said Dr llan Kelman, professor of disasters and health at the University of London. “There is confusion in terms of what lockdown actually means, but Sweden is definitely moving towards European countries that are locked down.”
He also said the country was caught out by its initial liberal approach. “Sweden was very fortunate. It was during summer when they spend a lot of time outdoors and they had strong advantages in the first lockdown. But then we got into autumn and winter and, of course, people are going to spend more time indoors and less time outdoors. Unfortunately, both for UK and Sweden, that has led to the awful spikes that we're seeing.”
Any post-pandemic inquiry will analyse the words of Sweden’s high-profile chief epidemiologist Ander Tegnell, who appeared to encourage herd immunity and defended Sweden’s lax approach.
He is now preparing the country for hard times ahead. “The Swedish curve has risen more slowly, but is now almost on par with other countries,” he said earlier this week. “Considering what the spread of infection looks like, we'll probably have to reckon with there being a high number of deaths this and next week.”
His comments pave the way for a national lockdown and reinforces that Covid-19 respects neither the liberal nor the authoritarian.
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Lexus LX700h specs
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Libya's Gold
UN Panel of Experts found regime secretly sold a fifth of the country's gold reserves.
The panel’s 2017 report followed a trail to West Africa where large sums of cash and gold were hidden by Abdullah Al Senussi, Qaddafi’s former intelligence chief, in 2011.
Cases filled with cash that was said to amount to $560m in 100 dollar notes, that was kept by a group of Libyans in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
A second stash was said to have been held in Accra, Ghana, inside boxes at the local offices of an international human rights organisation based in France.
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Zayed Sustainability Prize
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
How to watch Ireland v Pakistan in UAE
When: The one-off Test starts on Friday, May 11
What time: Each day’s play is scheduled to start at 2pm UAE time.
TV: The match will be broadcast on OSN Sports Cricket HD. Subscribers to the channel can also stream the action live on OSN Play.
The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
MATCH INFO
Newcastle 2-2 Manchester City
Burnley 0-2 Crystal Palace
Chelsea 0-1 West Ham
Liverpool 2-1 Brighton
Tottenham 3-2 Bournemouth
Southampton v Watford (late)
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The biog
Title: General Practitioner with a speciality in cardiology
Previous jobs: Worked in well-known hospitals Jaslok and Breach Candy in Mumbai, India
Education: Medical degree from the Government Medical College in Nagpur
How it all began: opened his first clinic in Ajman in 1993
Family: a 90-year-old mother, wife and two daughters
Remembers a time when medicines from India were purchased per kilo
The Vines - In Miracle Land
Two stars
THE BIO
Favourite car: Koenigsegg Agera RS or Renault Trezor concept car.
Favourite book: I Am Pilgrim by Terry Hayes or Red Notice by Bill Browder.
Biggest inspiration: My husband Nik. He really got me through a lot with his positivity.
Favourite holiday destination: Being at home in Australia, as I travel all over the world for work. It’s great to just hang out with my husband and family.
'The worst thing you can eat'
Trans fat is typically found in fried and baked goods, but you may be consuming more than you think.
Powdered coffee creamer, microwave popcorn and virtually anything processed with a crust is likely to contain it, as this guide from Mayo Clinic outlines:
Baked goods - Most cakes, cookies, pie crusts and crackers contain shortening, which is usually made from partially hydrogenated vegetable oil. Ready-made frosting is another source of trans fat.
Snacks - Potato, corn and tortilla chips often contain trans fat. And while popcorn can be a healthy snack, many types of packaged or microwave popcorn use trans fat to help cook or flavour the popcorn.
Fried food - Foods that require deep frying — french fries, doughnuts and fried chicken — can contain trans fat from the oil used in the cooking process.
Refrigerator dough - Products such as canned biscuits and cinnamon rolls often contain trans fat, as do frozen pizza crusts.
Creamer and margarine - Nondairy coffee creamer and stick margarines also may contain partially hydrogenated vegetable oils.
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
Opening Premier League fixtures, August 14
- Brentford v Arsenal
- Burnley v Brighton
- Chelsea v Crystal Palace
- Everton v Southampton
- Leicester City v Wolves
- Manchester United v Leeds United
- Newcastle United v West Ham United
- Norwich City v Liverpool
- Tottenham v Manchester City
- Watford v Aston Villa
Other ways to buy used products in the UAE
UAE insurance firm Al Wathba National Insurance Company (AWNIC) last year launched an e-commerce website with a facility enabling users to buy car wrecks.
Bidders and potential buyers register on the online salvage car auction portal to view vehicles, review condition reports, or arrange physical surveys, and then start bidding for motors they plan to restore or harvest for parts.
Physical salvage car auctions are a common method for insurers around the world to move on heavily damaged vehicles, but AWNIC is one of the few UAE insurers to offer such services online.
For cars and less sizeable items such as bicycles and furniture, Dubizzle is arguably the best-known marketplace for pre-loved.
Founded in 2005, in recent years it has been joined by a plethora of Facebook community pages for shifting used goods, including Abu Dhabi Marketplace, Flea Market UAE and Arabian Ranches Souq Market while sites such as The Luxury Closet and Riot deal largely in second-hand fashion.
At the high-end of the pre-used spectrum, resellers such as Timepiece360.ae, WatchBox Middle East and Watches Market Dubai deal in authenticated second-hand luxury timepieces from brands such as Rolex, Hublot and Tag Heuer, with a warranty.
A little about CVRL
Founded in 1985 by Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid, Vice President and Ruler of Dubai, the Central Veterinary Research Laboratory (CVRL) is a government diagnostic centre that provides testing and research facilities to the UAE and neighbouring countries.
One of its main goals is to provide permanent treatment solutions for veterinary related diseases.
The taxidermy centre was established 12 years ago and is headed by Dr Ulrich Wernery.
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if you go
The flights
Direct flights from the UAE to the Nepalese capital, Kathmandu, are available with Air Arabia, (www.airarabia.com) Fly Dubai (www.flydubai.com) or Etihad (www.etihad.com) from Dh1,200 return including taxes. The trek described here started from Jomson, but there are many other start and end point variations depending on how you tailor your trek. To get to Jomson from Kathmandu you must first fly to the lake-side resort town of Pokhara with either Buddha Air (www.buddhaair.com) or Yeti Airlines (www.yetiairlines.com). Both charge around US$240 (Dh880) return. From Pokhara there are early morning flights to Jomson with Yeti Airlines or Simrik Airlines (www.simrikairlines.com) for around US$220 (Dh800) return.
The trek
Restricted area permits (US$500 per person) are required for trekking in the Upper Mustang area. The challenging Meso Kanto pass between Tilcho Lake and Jomson should not be attempted by those without a lot of mountain experience and a good support team. An excellent trekking company with good knowledge of Upper Mustang, the Annaurpuna Circuit and Tilcho Lake area and who can help organise a version of the trek described here is the Nepal-UK run Snow Cat Travel (www.snowcattravel.com). Prices vary widely depending on accommodation types and the level of assistance required.
KILLING OF QASSEM SULEIMANI
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Opening Rugby Championship fixtures:Games can be watched on OSN Sports
Saturday: Australia v New Zealand, Sydney, 1pm (UAE)
Sunday: South Africa v Argentina, Port Elizabeth, 11pm (UAE)
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