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Sweden gives green light to indoor nursing home visits by those with Covid-19 antibodies

Sweden's Minister for Health and Social Affairs Lena Hallengren (centre of picture) looks on as a health worker administers a Covid-19 test in Stockholm in May - Jonas Ekstromer/AP
Sweden's Minister for Health and Social Affairs Lena Hallengren (centre of picture) looks on as a health worker administers a Covid-19 test in Stockholm in May - Jonas Ekstromer/AP
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Coronavirus Article Bar with counter

Sweden has authorised asymptomatic people who have Covid-19 antibodies to visit family members inside nursing homes in a major shift in public health policy by a country that bucked the global trend for full lockdowns.

Until now, Sweden had banned indoor visits and imposed strict limits on outdoor ones.

However, in an update to its guidelines, the National Board of Health and Welfare outlined exceptions to the rules. Among these, it gave the green light to indoor visits from people who can prove they have developed antibodies to Covid-19 and provide a test no older than six months that has been approved by the public health agency.

It is a retirement home's responsibility to ensure the individual's test result is reliable. Visitors must also not display any Covid-19 symptoms, which can last for several months after someone is first infected.

Other exemptions include visits "in connection with end-of-life care" and from someone with "an incurable non-contagious disease themselves in the final stages of life".

Family members can be allowed in if a resident displays "strong anxiety" that cannot be relieved by means other than a visit. If safe conditions are impossible to meet, telephone or Skype calls are recommended.

The health board continues to advise that, if at all possible, outdoor visits are preferable and even these should include measures to reduce the risk of infection.

Visits were, it said, essential to "promote an active and meaningful existence for the resident in community with others" and to "reduce the negative effects of loneliness".

Non-staff professionals who provide services such as dental or foot care, interpretation or repairs, may be allowed inside if there is no alternative and the service cannot be delayed or is required "to protect the resident's life, safety or health", the board said.

Nursing homes could grant exemptions both indoors and out if this can be done in a safe manner, taking into account building "design and furnishing indoors and outdoors", it added.

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Sweden's death toll from coronavirus on Tuesday rose to 5,545 – a jump of nine fatalities in a day, although the deaths may not have all come in the previous 24 hours due to the way health authorities report figures.

There have been 76,001 confirmed cases of coronavirus and 2,484 patients have been in intensive care.

The number of tests taken for ongoing infection has risen to roughly 80,000 per week. Swedish authorities continue to urge people to stay at home if they are at all sick – including even a mild cough or sore throat – and to respect social distancing and work from home if possible. They continue to recommend avoiding non-essential visits to elderly people or hospitals.

Unlike its Scandinavian neighbours, the country chose not to go into lockdown. The move was dubbed "a mad experiment" by Marcus Carlsson, of Lund University, in March, while others predicted that the healthcare system would collapse unless lockdown was introduced.

However, as in most other European countries, Sweden saw a peak in Covid-19 deaths in the first half of April, followed by a steady decline.