Is coronavirus outlier Sweden on the verge of a rules policy U-turn?

Stockholm passes lockdown law as infection and death rates continue to outstrip those of Nordic neighbours

A passenger wearing a face mask on a subway train in Stockholm
Swedes were only advised to start wearing face coverings in early December
(Image credit: Jessica Gow/TT News Agency/AFP via Getty Images)

Sweden’s “light touch” response to Covid-19 has made the Nordic country an outlier since the start of the pandemic – but all of that could be about to change.

Rising numbers of infections and related deaths in Sweden have triggered a number of small but significant policy shifts by the government, which is now considering a lockdown law that would allow the authorities to shut down large parts of the country.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.