Professor Kim Sneppen, an expert in the spread of coronavirus at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, said that Sweden might have beaten the pandemic.
He told Denmark's Politiken newspaper : 'There is some evidence that the Swedes have built up a degree of immunity to the virus which, along with what else they are doing to stop the spread, is enough to control the disease.
Professor Kim Sneppen, (pictured) an expert in the spread of coronavirus at the Niels Bohr Institute in Copenhagen, said that Sweden might have beaten the pandemic 'Perhaps, the epidemic is over there.'
It is thought that because many younger people have already had coronavirus in Sweden it now has less chance to spread through the population.
Recent studies suggested that an infection rate of 43 per cent may be enough to achieve herd immunity - a figure much lower than the 60 per cent previously cited.
Herd immunity is a situation in which a population of people is protected from a disease because so many of them are unaffected by it - because they've already had it or have been vaccinated - that it cannot spread.
When these have been created once, some of them remain in the body and the body also remembers how to make them again.
Antibodies - alongside T cells - provide long-term protection, or immunity, against an illness.
If nobody is immune to an illness – as was the case at the beginning of the coronavirus outbreak – it can spread like wildfire.
However, if, for example, half of people have developed immunity – from a past infection or a vaccine – there are only half as many people the illness can spread to.
As more and more people become immune the bug finds it harder and harder to spread until its pool of victims becomes so small it can no longer spread at all.
The threshold for herd immunity is different for various illnesses, depending on how contagious they are – for measles, around 95 per cent of people must be vaccinated to it spreading.
Advertisement Advertisement Share or comment on this article: Expert claims Sweden now has 'herd immunity' from coronavirus Comments 1432 Share what you think The comments below have not been moderated.