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Today in Sweden: A round-up of the latest news on Thursday

Catherine Edwards
Catherine Edwards - [email protected]
Today in Sweden: A round-up of the latest news on Thursday
VETLANDA 20210303 Polisens tekniker på plats i centrala Vetlanda där en man på onsdagen attackerade flera personer med ett tillhygge. Mannen som är i 20-årsåldern gick till angrepp mot åtta personer och sköts i samband gripandet senare av polis. Händelsen utreddes inledningsvis som misstänkt mordförsök, men ändrades senare till misstänkt terrorbrott. Foto: Mikael Fritzon / TT / kod 62360

Find out what's going on in Sweden today with The Local's short round-up of the news in less than five minutes.

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Man arrested after suspected terror attack in southern Sweden leaves eight injured

Eight people were injured in southern Sweden after a man attacked them on Wednesday afternoon. Police said they were investigating the case as attempted murder and were looking into "possible terrorist motives", but could not give further details. The hospital treating the victims said three were suffering from life-threatening injuries and a further two were seriously injured.

The suspect was shot and arrested by police shortly after they arrived on the scene and authorities said the situation was "under control". Police said they would share more information in a press briefing on Thursday, but the time was not specified.

Swedish vocabulary: injured – skadad

Photo: Carl Carlert / TT 

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Hundreds of people in Sweden have been signed off work sick with long-Covid for a year

Almost a year after authorities confirmed community spread of the coronavirus in Sweden, thousands have suffered from long-term effects of the virus, including fever, shortness of breath, and other symptoms.

New figures from the Social Insurance Agency show that more than 4,600 people have been signed off work due to Covid-19 for at least three months. In February, 156 people reached a full year of being signed off work for long Covid, and around 1,000 more are expected to reach that milestone over the next two months.

Since first being signed off, around 40 percent of those who were initially signed off sick due to Covid-19 have had their diagnosis changed, including to mental health conditions, joint or muscle problems, or illnesses affecting the heart or nervous systems.

Swedish vocabulary: signed off work for sickness – sjukskriven

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Stockholm healthcare chief: ‘The third wave of Covid-19 is here’

Stockholm's head of healthcare has warned that the third wave of the coronavirus is already affecting the capital region, with the number of new cases almost having doubled in three weeks.

A total of 318 patients were being treated in Stockholm’s hospitals for Covid-19 on Wednesday, 48 of them in intensive care units – an increase from 29 less than two weeks previously.

Swedish vocabulary: intensive care – intensivvård

Photo: Carl-Olof Zimmerman / TT  

More people skipping the queue for Covid-19 vaccinations

At the moment, Sweden's regions are primarily offering Covid-19 vaccinations to people in the first two priority groups: people who live in care homes for the elderly or receive at-home care, as well as healthcare workers and household members of people in this group; and adults over 65 or those in certain risk groups, such as people receiving LSS disability support and those on dialusis.

But there have been multiple reports of people in non-eligible reports skipping the queue, calling phone lines or using online booking services made available for the priority group.

In Jönköping, doctors' surgeries have now closed their online booking services after too many non-eligible people, including students not classed as a risk group, tried to book vaccine slots, which the region said created significant extra work for staff.

The region's statement said: "There is currently no barrier in the booking system on the web, given that not everyone has an [electronic identification] BankID and that it should be possible to help a relative to book. The supplier of the booking system is working on developing a new function to check age and booking type."

Swedish vocabulary: queue –

 

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