Concerns about the disease has resulted in a massive run on major grocery stores not seen in living memory, national broadcaster SVT reported.
“I haven't seen anything like it before. We had a lot of powdered milk, but it all went out this weekend. Also canned foods, such as beans, sausages and vegetables,” said an employee of a major ICA store outside Stockholm, which experienced a foray by worried customers. “It's a real cleansing, it started on Thursday. Customers have pointed out that they want to stock up because of the coronavirus,” he added. “You see it with the naked eye what people are out for. The choice is very specific: canned meat, rice and pasta. Everything that is preserved and dry has gone,” he concluded.
The same situation was experienced at the Coop store in Bromma municipality, the largest one in the country, prompting the management to describe the situation as “extreme”.
“Sales of dry goods such as pasta, rice and various types of canned food increased by 60 percent. It's absolutely incredible,” store manager Ralph Flander said.
The hoarding in Sweden started despite the country's Public Health Authority issuing calming statements and claiming that the virus is no more deadly than the common flu.
So far, Sweden has reported 14 cases of coronavirus, which led to dozens more placed under quarantine and intensive check-ups. The very first case of the coronavirus was reported in Jönköping at the end of January. Since then, about 500 people have been tested for the virus.
According to the Swedish health authorities, the risk of the virus spreading in Sweden is “low”, which is the second-lowest level on a five-point scale. Still, they expect further individual cases to occur in Sweden.
The Swedish Foreign Ministry is advising people not to travel to China's Hubei province, where the virus originated, and to avoid all non-essential travel to other parts of mainland China, as well as Iran. The national flagship carrier SAS has halted all flights to China. No other travel restrictions are in place.
The coronavirus, or COVID-19, is a respiratory illness similar to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed hundreds across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003.
Since December 2019, the outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, has killed almost 3,000 and infected about 87,000. A lot still remains unknown about the virus, including its origins. The initial symptoms are not dissimilar to the common cold, as the virus belongs to the same family, including cough, headache, fatigue, fever, aching and difficulty breathing.
