Today in Sweden: a roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Find out what's going on in Sweden today with The Local's short roundup of the news in less than five minutes.
Newly-elected prime minister Magdalena Andersson resigns
Magdalena Andersson resigned yesterday, only hours after she was elected by parliament to be Sweden's next, and first female, prime minister.
Her resignation was sparked by coalition partners the Green Party resigning from government, after the right-wing opposition's budget proposal was passed.
Speaker Andreas Norlén will now restart the process of finding a prime minister – discussions are expected to start today.
If Andersson is nominated again, she is expected to be re-elected, with the Centre Party, Left Party and Green Party confirming on Wednesday that they would approve her nomination as long as current agreements between the parties are kept.
Swedish vocabulary: avgå – resign
Sweden Democrats want to be included in a right-wing government
The Moderates and the Christian Democrats have said that far-right Sweden Democrats would not be part of their government if they win the next election in 10 months' time, TT reports.
"If they think they're going to be able to build a government like that, I don't think it's going to go so well for them," said Sweden Democrat party secretary Richard Jomshof in an interview with TT. "We want to be in government," he continued.
Anti-immigration Sweden Democrats were long cut out of political negotiations in Sweden due to the party's roots among neo-Nazi groups. The party’s leader Jimmie Åkesson has long tried to make his party more acceptable to mainstream voters, claiming a zero-tolerance approach to overtly racist positions.
The Sweden Democrats have in recent years slowly managed to strengthen ties with the so-called conservative bloc, consisting of the Moderates, the Christian Democrats, the Liberals and occasionally the Centre Party, although the latter has moved closer to the centre-left in recent years.
Swedish vocabulary: borgerlig – conservative
Amount of fully-vaccinated in intensive care is increasing
In recent months, there has been a marked increase in the proportion of intensive care patients who have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports.
In September, 23 percent of intensive care patients were fully vaccinated. Since the start of November, this has increased to 43 percent.
However, it is important to take into consideration when looking at these figures, that the total number of patients in intensive care is low, and the fully-vaccinated proportion of the population is increasing.
As of 9am on November 25th, there were 22 Covid-19 patients in intensive care across Sweden. This has decreased by 3 since November 23rd, and by 8 since November 18th.
The age group where this increase is seen most clearly is among those aged 60 and over, where the percentage of fully vaccinated patients in intensive care has risen from 20 percent in August, to 42 percent in September, 61 percent in October, reaching 76 percent in November so far.
According to the Public Health Agency, these numbers may indicate that vaccine protection in certain groups is starting to wear off, which is why they have started offering booster doses to over 65s, state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell explained to Dagens Nyheter.
Swedish vocabulary: ökar - increasing
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Newly-elected prime minister Magdalena Andersson resigns
Magdalena Andersson resigned yesterday, only hours after she was elected by parliament to be Sweden's next, and first female, prime minister.
Her resignation was sparked by coalition partners the Green Party resigning from government, after the right-wing opposition's budget proposal was passed.
Speaker Andreas Norlén will now restart the process of finding a prime minister – discussions are expected to start today.
If Andersson is nominated again, she is expected to be re-elected, with the Centre Party, Left Party and Green Party confirming on Wednesday that they would approve her nomination as long as current agreements between the parties are kept.
Swedish vocabulary: avgå – resign
Sweden Democrats want to be included in a right-wing government
The Moderates and the Christian Democrats have said that far-right Sweden Democrats would not be part of their government if they win the next election in 10 months' time, TT reports.
"If they think they're going to be able to build a government like that, I don't think it's going to go so well for them," said Sweden Democrat party secretary Richard Jomshof in an interview with TT. "We want to be in government," he continued.
Anti-immigration Sweden Democrats were long cut out of political negotiations in Sweden due to the party's roots among neo-Nazi groups. The party’s leader Jimmie Åkesson has long tried to make his party more acceptable to mainstream voters, claiming a zero-tolerance approach to overtly racist positions.
The Sweden Democrats have in recent years slowly managed to strengthen ties with the so-called conservative bloc, consisting of the Moderates, the Christian Democrats, the Liberals and occasionally the Centre Party, although the latter has moved closer to the centre-left in recent years.
Swedish vocabulary: borgerlig – conservative
Amount of fully-vaccinated in intensive care is increasing
In recent months, there has been a marked increase in the proportion of intensive care patients who have received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine, newspaper Dagens Nyheter reports.
In September, 23 percent of intensive care patients were fully vaccinated. Since the start of November, this has increased to 43 percent.
However, it is important to take into consideration when looking at these figures, that the total number of patients in intensive care is low, and the fully-vaccinated proportion of the population is increasing.
As of 9am on November 25th, there were 22 Covid-19 patients in intensive care across Sweden. This has decreased by 3 since November 23rd, and by 8 since November 18th.
The age group where this increase is seen most clearly is among those aged 60 and over, where the percentage of fully vaccinated patients in intensive care has risen from 20 percent in August, to 42 percent in September, 61 percent in October, reaching 76 percent in November so far.
According to the Public Health Agency, these numbers may indicate that vaccine protection in certain groups is starting to wear off, which is why they have started offering booster doses to over 65s, state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell explained to Dagens Nyheter.
Swedish vocabulary: ökar - increasing
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