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Sweden recorded its highest death toll in 150 years in the first half of 2020 amid the coronavirus pandemic, according to the country’s official statistics office.
The Scandinavian nation, which has refused to implement a COVID-19 lockdown, recorded 51,405 deaths between January and June – the highest number of deaths in the first half since 1869, according to CNN.
This figure is about 6,500, or 15 percent, higher than the same time last year.
In the first half of 1869, 55,431 people died when Sweden was hit by widespread famine due to poor harvests. The severe famine prompted many desperate citizens to emigrate to the United States.
As the coronavirus spread across Europe earlier this year, Sweden was among the few countries that refused to implement an official lockdown – instead highlighting personal responsibility to fight the pandemic and opting for immunity collective.
But the relaxed approach – which has seen most bars, schools, restaurants and lounges remain open – doesn’t seem to have worked, CNN noted.
Only 7% of Stockholm’s residents had developed the antibodies needed to fight the virus by the end of April, well below the 70 to 90% required for herd immunity.
The country also saw the smallest population increase since 2005, with just 6,860 babies born in the first half of 2020 – less than half of the previous year, according to CNN.
In June, Sweden’s chief epidemiologist Anders Tegnell admitted that the country’s Public Health Agency “did not know there would be such great potential for the disease to spread in nursing homes for the elderly. , with so many deaths ”.
The total death toll from COVID-19 in Sweden is 5,805 on Thursday afternoon, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.
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