Sweden’s 74-year-old monarch on Wednesday said that the country has failed in handling the COVID-19 outbreak as the death toll continues to mount in the Nordic nation. Carl XVI Gustaf, the King of Sweden, who hardly comments on current and political issues and has no formal political power, described the country’s handling of the pandemic as “terrible”. According to CGTN, the King’s comment was part of his annual Christmas address, an excerpt of which was shown by the state-owned SVT channel.
King Gustaf said that the country has “failed” in its handling of the COVID-19 outbreak, adding that the sheer number of deaths the outbreak has caused is “terrible”. King Gustaf’s concerns arise from the fact that Sweden has recorded the highest deaths per capita compared to its neighbours in the Nordic region. Earlier, King Gustaf’s son and daughter-in-law also tested positive for the disease and were quarantined along with their children as a precautionary measure.
