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

Sweden's emergency information service apologises for 'unacceptable' Twitter comments

KrisInformation.se, the platform which shares crisis information from Swedish authorities, has apologised for responses to posts on Twitter on Tuesday. Most of the posts in questions were responding to users who were critical of Sweden's decision to pause the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Replies from the account called one Twitter user "fact-resistant", and in response to another, said: "Is that sufficient for you, to be angry? You've been angry now. Hope you feel better tomorrow!" 

The service has reviewed posts made and has said that some of the answers are unacceptable, saying "This is not how people should be responded to on our channels. We apologise."

Swedish vocabulary: unacceptable – oacceptabel

pic.twitter.com/haRo3rVZxf

— Krisinformation.se (@krisinformation) March 17, 2021

A record number of people filed their tax returns within a day

Just a day after Sweden's online tax return opened, over a million people had completed it digitally. The exact number was a record 1.04 million, up from 766,000 people within the same time period last year. In total, 8.1 million people in Sweden are expected to file a tax return this year.

The incentive for early declaration, before March 30th, is that you are more likely to get any tax rebate in April, while others will wait until June if they leave it until the final deadline of May 3rd.

Swedish vocabulary: tax return – skattedeklaration

Photo: Anders Wiklund/TT

Sweden's Digitalisation Minister sceptical of EU vaccine passport plans

The EU Commission has proposed a common vaccine passport to facilitate summer travel.

Swedish Digitalisation Minister Anders Ygeman, who earlier in the year announced plans for a Swedish digital vaccine pass, said he was positive to the idea "in principle" but foresaw several issues.

"How shall I put it diplomatically? It is a very ambitious timeframe," he told the TT newswire.

He also said that one important question was how to deal with people who cannot be vaccinated, for example due to allergies. Not including this information and not allowing these people to travel could be discriminatory, but including it would lead to concerns over data and medical privacy, according to Ygeman.

Swedish vocabulary: passport – pass

Photo: Janerik Henriksson/TT 

Incitement to suicide will become a crime in Sweden

Urging someone else to kill themselves will become a crime with a punishment of up to two years' imprisonment.

This comes after the government on Wednesday accepted a parliamentary proposal, and the law changes will come into force from May 1st. Two new crimes will be introduced: incitement to suicide which will carry the maximum two-year sentence, and negligent incitement, which carries a punishment of fines or up to six months in prison.

Swedish vocabulary: crime – brott