pic: cnn.com
The Corona virus hasn’t hit Sweden (likely it will, maybe it’s won’t), but it has hit Swedish businesses in China. H&M, Ikea, Ericsson, Volvo, Scania, Alfa Laval, Assa Abloy (also Finnish), Sandvik, SKF, Atlas Copco, AstraZeneca and Elektrolux are the big ones, that between them have tens of thousands of employees.
H&M and Ikea have closed their stores in the Wuhan area (where the virus is centered, for the moment at least), reports SvD, and are letting their employees stay at home with full salary. H&M has nine boutiques in the Wuhan area and tens of thousands of employees in China. Volvo has no presence of its own in Wuhan, but is stopping all trips to the area, which can affect resellers, according to DN. So far, none of the companies have told DN that they know of any employees being infected. Many employees are also off for the Chinese new year celebrations.
Not Swedish news exactly, but the Wuhan hospital is now overwhelmed with patients and they’ve begun sending people home: The Chinese authorities have already started building two new hospitals nearby – one is due to be able to begin taking patients in the beginning of February. Problematic, yes, but fun comparison – Ny Karolinska hospital in Solna took 8 years from the first spade hitting the dirt to full operation.
France has confirmed the first case of the Corona virus in Europe – one in Paris and one in the Bordeaux region. Both persons had been to China recently. French authorities are asking people that have been to China and think they might have the virus to not go to the emergency room.
In China itself, there are nearly one thousand confirmed cases. There could be many more even as this post is being written.