Sweden today reported a record 185 new deaths from coronaviruses as a senior health official defended the country’s refusal to detain.

Epidemiologist Anders Wallensten said that “voluntary restrictions” could be “maintained for a longer period” than the mandatory closings imposed by most European countries.

The Swedes accepted the “reasonable” rules without being forced to obey them, he said, adding that a total lockdown would cause more economic damage.

The surge in deaths is likely due to delays in collecting weekend figures, a problem that many countries have experienced.

Sweden’s figures have fluctuated enormously in the past two weeks, with implausibly low figures released on Sundays and Mondays, followed by a sharp increase on Tuesdays.

This graph shows the daily number of deaths announced by the Swedish public health agency. The figure fluctuated enormously due to delays in reporting weekend figures

This graph shows the daily number of cases in Sweden. Today’s figure of 545 is a significant increase from yesterday’s 392, possibly also due to a weekend backlog

The country’s public health agency reported only 29 new deaths last Sunday and 40 yesterday, suggesting a large backlog.

The agency now says there were at least 94 deaths over the weekend, but not all of the deaths were attributed to a particular day.

Yet today’s increase of 185 is the largest to date, even compared to pre-weekend arrears, and brings the total from 1580 to 1765.

The number of cases increased by 545, which is also a significant jump from 392 yesterday, bringing the total number of infections from 14,777 to 15,322.

The same delays in notification were observed during the Easter weekend, when daily updates showed only 49 new deaths from Saturday to Monday.

In fact, the agency now attributes at least 242 deaths to the three days, many of which were not revealed until later.

Wallensten, the deputy state epidemiologist, today launched the latest defense of a “voluntary” policy which Sweden says is better in the long run.

Sweden has emphasized personal responsibility for social distancing measures rather than putting in place a lock that cannot last forever.

Wallensten also hinted that the peak may have already been reached, despite the impression created by the sharp increase in numbers.

Health experts estimate that as of May 1, up to a third of people in the Stockholm area may have already had the virus, which could limit its spread.

People were sitting outside yesterday in a restaurant in central Stockholm, in scenes that have not been reproduced in most European countries for several weeks.

Today in Stockholm, the weather is hot in a country that says “voluntary” restrictions are better in the long run than mandatory restrictions.

Sweden’s slight contact with the crisis has drawn criticism from some scientists and academics and has also alarmed some of its European neighbors.

Bars, restaurants and schools remain open while public gatherings of up to 50 people are still allowed in Sweden.

Sweden has many more deaths than Denmark, Norway and Finland, a difference which is not sufficiently explained by the size of their population.

Finland has imposed controls on the generally fluid border traffic on its border with Sweden, fearing the spread of the disease.

Sweden insists that its strategy is right because people must “understand and accept” long-term measures rather than being forced to obey them.

“If everyone takes responsibility, together we will overcome it,” said Prime Minister Stefan Löfven.

Officials say “Swedes have great confidence in government agencies”, which means that consultative measures are widely followed.

“In the current situation, Swedes are acting globally in a responsible manner to reduce the spread of the infection by limiting, for example, their social contacts,” the government said.

However, the ministers promised a huge increase in testing so that people in key positions such as the police and health workers can be tested for the virus.

“We are talking about a test and analysis capacity of 50,000, maybe up to 100,000, per week,” said Health Minister Lena Hallengren.

So far, nearly 75,000 people have been tested in Sweden, said Hallengren last week.

People walk on a pedestrian street in Stockholm on Sunday in one of the few developed countries that has not closed bars and restaurants or cut public gatherings

Nurses wearing masks and protective equipment work on Sunday in a ward at Karolinska Hospital in Solna, Sweden planning to step up coronavirus testing

The public health agency says that minority groups, including those born in Somalia, Iran, Iraq and the former Yugoslavia, are overrepresented among hospital patients.

State epidemiologist Anders Tegnell admitted that authorities did not know why these groups were overrepresented.

“The main signal for us is really that we need to better reach these groups with different types of messages to protect them,” he said.

Stockholm accounts for more than 40% of the total number of cases in Sweden and some poor neighborhoods have many more cases per capita than the wealthiest.

These municipalities are home to several of Sweden’s “vulnerable areas”, a term originally assigned by the Swedish police to disadvantaged areas with high crime rates.

More than 550,000 people live in these 61 areas, according to a 2019 report commissioned by local village rights group Global Village.

On average, 74% of the inhabitants of these regions are immigrants, which means that their parents or both were born abroad. The national average was 24.9%.

Local authorities have therefore intensified their information efforts in these areas, by distributing material in 26 languages ​​other than Swedish. These include Russian, Finnish, Arabic, Somali and Persian.