USA President says Sweden is “paying heavily” for its relaxed approach after it emerged it has one of the highest death rates in the world

President Donald Trump said today “Sweden is paying heavily for not going into lockdown” adding “the United States made the right decision” after it emerged the Scandinavian country’s death toll is one of the highest in the world among countries with more than 1,000 confirmed cases.

ACCORDING to data from John Hopkins University, its fatality rate is 12 per cent, placing it sixth highest globally and more than double the USA, which is around 5.8 per cent despite having the highest number of deaths in the world.

Sweden’s more relaxed approach to the pandemic, opting not to impose a lockdown, has been widely criticised, and USA President, Donald Trump, was quick to make comparisons between the two country’s strategies.

His post earlier today refers to 2,462 Covid-16 deaths in the Scandinavian country, but John Hopkins University figures showed at 8.30pm this evening, there have been 2,586 mortalities.

This is far higher than neighbouring Finland where there have now been 211 and Norway (210).

Sweden now has 21,092 confirmed Covid-19 cases.

Despite reports to the contrary, Sweden is paying heavily for its decision not to lockdown. As of today, 2462 people have died there, a much higher number than the neighboring countries of Norway (207), Finland (206) or Denmark (443). The United States made the correct decision!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 30, 2020

Sweden’s death rate is almost six times that of Norway, which is almost 2.6 per cent, and practically three times Finland and Denmark’s rate, almost 4.2 and 4.9 respectively, says JHU.

Sweden’s response to the outbreak is said to be part of the country’s objective to establish herd immunity by increasing the number of people exposed to the virus in a bid to prevent later cases.

Anders Tegnell, the chief state epidemiologist at Sweden’s public health agency, told the BBC’s Radio Four’s Today program last week that “at least 50 per cent of our death toll is within elderly homes and we have a hard time understanding how a lockdown would stop the introduction of disease,”

He added the decision to not issue a lockdown “worked in some aspects because our health system has been able to cope”.

Officials have also claimed it did not want to enforce a lockdown as it would be financially devastating.