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.
Sweden sets tentative date for lifting Covid restrictions
Sweden may lift most of its Covid restrictions starting February 9th, if the ongoing outbreak of the Omicron variant peaks by then and vaccinations continue apace, Health Minister Lena Hallengren told a press conference on Wednesday.
She was joined by Karin Tegmark Wisell, director-general of the Public Health Agency, at the press conference.
Tegmark Wisell said 270,000 new cases had been confirmed with PCR tests in the past seven days, but that the agency believes that the outbreak is currently so widespread that the true figure could be a least half a million people a week. Some 10 million people live in Sweden.
She said that the agency believes “the peak will be reached in the next few weeks”.
Neither Tegmark Wisell nor Hallengren specified which restrictions could be eased on February 9th, saying only that they would be lifted in steps – not all at once – and that the government and health authorities would present a more detailed plan next week.
Swedish vocabulary: ta bort - remove or lift (e.g. lift restrictions)
Prime minister holds cross-party meeting on national security strategy
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson held a two hour long meeting with parliamentary parties on Sweden's national security strategy on the back of increased military activities along the Ukrainian border and Russian demands on Nato and the USA, including the demand that Sweden does not join Nato.
In a press conference after the meeting, Andersson said that the government "regards the increasingly confrontative rhetoric from Russia as extremely serious".
"The security situation in our surrounding areas have become worse over a longer period of time and recent actions by Russia have further worsened the situation," she said.
The Prime Minister underlined that the government considers Russia's demands are unacceptable. "The European security strategy is non-negotiable and national rights must be respected," she said.
"In Sweden, we decide over our own foreign and security policy, and which countries we decide to cooperate with."
Swedish vocabulary: säkerhetsläge - security situation
Crows may soon be Södertälje municipality's new litter pickers
A new method is being developed to train wild crows to pick up cigarette butts and other small pieces of litter, which will soon be ready for testing.
The wild crows can be trained through a step-by-step learning process. The birds can learn to pick up litter by placing it in to a machine which dispenses food.
"They're wild birds taking part on a voluntary basis," said Christian Günther-Hanssen, founder of the company behind the method, Corvid Cleaning, to TT newswire.
The company chose to use crows as they are the most intelligent bird, Günther-Hanssen told TT.
Over a billion cigarette butts are left on Sweden's streets each year, and they represent 62 percent of all litter, according to the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation.
Now, the method is ready for large-scale testing. A potential pilot project is being investigated in Södertälje municipality, where crows will help pick up litter.
"It depends on whether we can find a place in Södertälje which will work with the food dispenser, and then if there are opportunities for financing," Tomas Thernström, waste strategist at Södertälje municipality, told TT.
Günther-Hanssen believes that the scheme could save the municipality at least 75% of costs involved with picking up cigarette butts, depending on how many the crows collect.
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Sweden sets tentative date for lifting Covid restrictions
Sweden may lift most of its Covid restrictions starting February 9th, if the ongoing outbreak of the Omicron variant peaks by then and vaccinations continue apace, Health Minister Lena Hallengren told a press conference on Wednesday.
She was joined by Karin Tegmark Wisell, director-general of the Public Health Agency, at the press conference.
Tegmark Wisell said 270,000 new cases had been confirmed with PCR tests in the past seven days, but that the agency believes that the outbreak is currently so widespread that the true figure could be a least half a million people a week. Some 10 million people live in Sweden.
She said that the agency believes “the peak will be reached in the next few weeks”.
Neither Tegmark Wisell nor Hallengren specified which restrictions could be eased on February 9th, saying only that they would be lifted in steps – not all at once – and that the government and health authorities would present a more detailed plan next week.
Swedish vocabulary: ta bort - remove or lift (e.g. lift restrictions)
Prime minister holds cross-party meeting on national security strategy
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson held a two hour long meeting with parliamentary parties on Sweden's national security strategy on the back of increased military activities along the Ukrainian border and Russian demands on Nato and the USA, including the demand that Sweden does not join Nato.
In a press conference after the meeting, Andersson said that the government "regards the increasingly confrontative rhetoric from Russia as extremely serious".
"The security situation in our surrounding areas have become worse over a longer period of time and recent actions by Russia have further worsened the situation," she said.
The Prime Minister underlined that the government considers Russia's demands are unacceptable. "The European security strategy is non-negotiable and national rights must be respected," she said.
"In Sweden, we decide over our own foreign and security policy, and which countries we decide to cooperate with."
Swedish vocabulary: säkerhetsläge - security situation
Crows may soon be Södertälje municipality's new litter pickers
A new method is being developed to train wild crows to pick up cigarette butts and other small pieces of litter, which will soon be ready for testing.
The wild crows can be trained through a step-by-step learning process. The birds can learn to pick up litter by placing it in to a machine which dispenses food.
"They're wild birds taking part on a voluntary basis," said Christian Günther-Hanssen, founder of the company behind the method, Corvid Cleaning, to TT newswire.
The company chose to use crows as they are the most intelligent bird, Günther-Hanssen told TT.
Over a billion cigarette butts are left on Sweden's streets each year, and they represent 62 percent of all litter, according to the Keep Sweden Tidy Foundation.
Now, the method is ready for large-scale testing. A potential pilot project is being investigated in Södertälje municipality, where crows will help pick up litter.
"It depends on whether we can find a place in Södertälje which will work with the food dispenser, and then if there are opportunities for financing," Tomas Thernström, waste strategist at Södertälje municipality, told TT.
Günther-Hanssen believes that the scheme could save the municipality at least 75% of costs involved with picking up cigarette butts, depending on how many the crows collect.
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