COVID-19 infections among young people increase in Sweden

The spread of COVID-19 infection among young adults has increased in Sweden recently, said the Public Health Agency of Sweden on Thursday, which is in charge of advising national pandemic policies, reported Xinhua.

"It is a bad sign," said Anders Tegnell, state epidemiologist of the agency, on Thursday at a press conference, adding that the development is "worrying" because more vulnerable groups are at risk.

As in large parts of the rest of Europe, Sweden now sees that the number of reported cases is increasing somewhat. The agency said it was "still unclear" as for why the curve turns up again, but said what's clear was that young adults aged 20-29 accounted for a large part of the increase.

Tegnell said although the group is less likely to suffer from a severe coronary infection, the development is worrying. "There is a clear risk that it will start to spread from that group to other groups that will become significantly sicker. We must all bare that in mind."

Tegnell believed it's not relevant to have special regulations aimed at young adults in particular. On the other hand, the agency is reviewing how to better reach out with information to the group.

"At the same time, it should be remembered that even within this group there are people who become so ill that they have to be admitted to intensive care and we have also had a few isolated deaths," said Tegnell.

Sweden has so far counted 5,766 deaths and 81,967 infections in a population of over 10 million. Sweden has neither imposed a lockdown -- even during the peak of the pandemic -- nor asked people to wear face masks in public, quoting a lack of support in research.