Sweden’s king, queen test positive for coronavirus

Stockholm: King Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden and his wife Queen Silvia has been tested positive for the novel coronavirus on Monday evening, the Swedish Royal Court said in a statement Tuesday. 

The statement said, the king (75) and the queen (78) “have mild symptoms and feel well under the circumstances,” adding that they were isolating at home.   

Reportedly, both were fully vaccinated with three jabs. 

Though Sweden remained better off than other countries that enforced strict lockdowns, the early months of the outbreak were far deadlier in Sweden than in many of its neighbors. 

Sweden has been something of an outlier in Europe in its response to the pandemic and kept the country open, asking residents to follow health precautions voluntarily.  

As the highly contagious Omicron variant spreads in much of the world, Sweden has seen major surges in cases in the winter and spring of 2021, and new cases are soaring again now. 

However, daily coronavirus infection rates have increased sharply in recent weeks in the country.

The Nordic country hit an all-time high of 11,507 Covid-19 cases in a day on December 30, topping the previous record of 11,376 from December 2020, figures released Tuesday by the Public Health Agency showed. 

In March 2021, Sweden's Crown Princess Victoria and her husband Prince Daniel tested positive, and Prince Carl Philip and his wife Princess Sofia tested positive in the fall of 2020.