Sweden is opening a field hospital at a trade-fair complex in Stockholm, with capacity for 600 patients.
Initially the hospital in Aelvsjoe will take up to 140, to ease the pressure on the capital’s hospitals, as Covid-19 cases continue to rise. Sweden’s armed forces prepared the facility.
In Sweden, 401 people have died from coronavirus and there are 6,830 current cases, Johns Hopkins University reports.
More than half the deaths were in the Stockholm area.
Unlike neighbouring Denmark and Germany, Sweden has not imposed a lockdown, and there were still plenty of shoppers in the capital at the weekend.
The authorities have urged Swedes to: stay at home if they are over 70 or have viral symptoms; work from home if possible; avoid non-essential travel and avoid big groups. Social-distancing has been advised.
But Sweden’s more relaxed policy has left it looking isolated in Europe.
