Sweden has lifted all the COVID-19 restrictions, despite rising case numbers.
The Public Health Directorate declared limited COVID-19-related restrictions that began on June 1 and ended on Sept. 29.
The Health Agency’s advice to work from home is also being removed.
Meanwhile, the Swedish Foreign Ministry announced in a separate statement a plan to lift all travel bans on Oct. 1, 2021.
After Denmark and Norway, Sweden is the third Scandinavian country to totally abolish coronavirus-related restrictions.
Sweden has been an outlier in aspects of its handling of the disease, shunning hard lockdowns throughout the pandemic.
The World Health Organization (WHO) has earlier expected that another 236,000 people could die from COVID-19 in Europe by December 1.
The health organisation raised the alarm over the rising infections and stagnating vaccine rates on the continent.
“Last week, there was an 11 percent increase in the number of deaths in the region – one reliable projection is expecting 236,000 deaths in Europe, by December 1,” WHO Europe director Hans Kluge said.
Kluge also said the Delta variant was partly to blame, along with an “exaggerated easing” of restrictions and measures and a surge in summer travel.
“In the past six weeks, it has fallen by 14 percent, influenced by a lack of access to vaccines in some countries and a lack of vaccine acceptance in others,” Kluge said.
He further urged countries to “increase production, share doses, and improve access”.
“Vaccine scepticism and science denial is holding us back from stabilising this crisis. It serves no purpose, and is good for no one.”
The warning comes as the WHO and UNICEF urged European countries to make teachers a priority group for vaccination.
