Sweden spared European surge as coronavirus infections stay low

Chief epidemiologist puts low number of cases down to light-touch sustainable' approach

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While many European countries are seeing new cases surge to levels not seen since the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, Sweden - whose light-touch approach has made it an international outlier - has one of the continent's lowest infection rates.

According to the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), the Scandinavian country's 14-day cumulative total of new cases was 22.2 per 100,000 inhabitants on Tuesday, against 279 in Spain, 158.5 in France, 118 in the Czech Republic, 77 in Belgium and 59 in the UK, all of which imposed lockdowns this spring.