Ballooning coronavirus cases in Sweden have forced a major rethink of the country's controverisal no-lockdown policy.
The Scandanivian nation, like most of Western Europe, is experiencing a second wave of infections.
Sweden's per-capita death rate as of last week was 58.6 per 100,000 people, reports Time magazine. The nation's average daily cases figure rose by 173 per cent from early September to early October.
READ MORE: European nations smash COVID-19 records
Cities such as Stockholm and Uppsala have reported high increases.
During the northern summer, after Sweden pursued its controversial no-lockdown policy, case numbers dropped dramatically. Despite criticism by some experts and neighbouring countries, there was speculation the population was close to herd immunity.
But the cooler autumn months and the mass return of people to workplaces have seen that number jump in recent weeks.
Sweden's cumulative death total from infections is 10 times higher than neighbouring Norway and Finland and five times higher than Denmark, the Washington Post reports.
Public health authorities responded this week by bringing in local restrictions.
The measures, which came into force on Monday, give local health officials powers to instruct citizens to avoid shopping centres, museums, libraries, swimming pools, gyms, sports training, sports matches and concerts, the Telegraph reports.
But unlike most other nations, failure to follow the advice does not result in fines for people.
Unlike most countries, Sweden did not go into a lockdown when the pandemic spread across Europe from March.
Instead, there was an emphasis on personal responsibility, with most bars, schools, restaurants and salons remaining open.
Meanwhile, other nations across Europe have also recorded an explosion in case numbers.
Spain hits one million cases
Spain became the first country in western Europe to record more than a million confirmed COVID-19 infections on Wednesday, as the nation of 47 million struggles to contain a resurgence of the virus.
The health ministry said that its accumulative case load since the start of the pandemic reached 1,005,295 after reporting 16,973 more cases in the past 24 hours.
The ministry attributes 34,366 deaths to COVID-19.
Experts say that, as in most countries, the real numbers of infections and deaths are probably much higher due to insufficient testing, asymptomatic cases and other issues which impede authorities from capturing the true scale of the outbreak.
It is the sixth country to record one million cases after the US, India, Brazil, Russia and Argentina.
UK region moves to strictest lockdown level
The northern England region of South Yorkshire will move into tier three lockdown from Saturday, reports the BBC.
It will mean 7.3 million people in England will be living under the toughest health rules.
Under the measures, pubs and bars that do not serve substantial meals have to close, and there are further restrictions on households mixing.
Ireland implements Melbourne-style 5km rule
The Irish Government has announced the country is moving to its strictest lockdown regime.
Under the rules, people will only be able to exercise within 5km of their home and many non-essential shops and hairdressers will have to close.
The measures are set to last for six weeks but will be reviewed after four.
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With AP.
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