Âu

[Triển]

A German Exception? Why the Country’s Coronavirus Death Rate Is Low

The pandemic has hit Germany hard, with more than 100,000 people infected. But the percentage of fatal cases has been remarkably low compared to those in many neighboring countries.


In the heart of Berlin, Potsdamer Platz was nearly empty on Saturday, as people heeded orders to stay at home. Credit...Emile Ducke for The New York Times

By Katrin Bennhold


They call them corona taxis: Medics outfitted in protective gear, driving around the empty streets of Heidelberg to check on patients who are at home, five or six days into being sick with the coronavirus.

They take a blood test, looking for signs that a patient is about to go into a steep decline. They might suggest hospitalization, even to a patient who has only mild symptoms; the chances of surviving that decline are vastly improved by being in a hospital when it begins.

“There is this tipping point at the end of the first week,” said Prof. Hans-Georg Kräusslich, the head of virology at University Hospital in Heidelberg, one of Germany’s leading research hospitals. “If you are a person whose lungs might fail, that’s when you will start deteriorating.”

Heidelberg’s corona taxis are only one initiative in one city. But they illustrate a level of engagement and a commitment of public resources in fighting the epidemic that help explain one of the most intriguing puzzles of the pandemic: Why is Germany’s death rate so low?

The virus and the resulting disease, Covid-19, have hit Germany with force: According to Johns Hopkins University, the country had more than 100,000 laboratory-confirmed infections as of Monday morning, more than any other country except the United States, Italy and Spain.

But with 1,584 deaths, Germany’s fatality rate stood at 1.6 percent, compared with 12 percent in Italy, around 10 percent in Spain, France and Britain, 4 percent in China and nearly 3 percent in the United States. Even South Korea, a model of flattening the curve, has a higher fatality rate, 1.8 percent.

“There has been talk of a German anomaly,” said Hendrik Streeck, director of the Institute of virology at the University Hospital Bonn. Professor Streeck has been getting calls from colleagues in the United States and elsewhere.

“‘What are you doing differently?’ they ask me,” he said. “‘Why is your death rate so low?’”

There are several answers experts say, a mix of statistical distortions and very real differences in how the country has taken on the epidemic.

The average age of those infected is lower in Germany than in many other countries. Many of the early patients caught the virus in Austrian and Italian ski resorts and were relatively young and healthy, Professor Kräusslich said.

“It started as an epidemic of skiers,” he said.

As infections have spread, more older people have been hit and the death rate, only 0.2 percent two weeks ago, has risen, too. But the average age of contracting the disease remains relatively low, at 49. In France, it is 62.5 and in Italy 62, according to their latest national reports.

Another explanation for the low fatality rate is that Germany has been testing far more people than most nations. That means it catches more people with few or no symptoms, increasing the number of known cases, but not the number of fatalities.

“That automatically lowers the death rate on paper,” said Professor Kräusslich.

But there are also significant medical factors that have kept the number of deaths in Germany relatively low, epidemiologists and virologists say, chief among them early and widespread testing and treatment, plenty of intensive care beds and a trusted government whose social distancing guidelines are widely observed.

Testing

In mid-January, long before most Germans had given the virus much thought, Charité hospital in Berlin had already developed a test and posted the formula online.

By the time Germany recorded its first case of Covid-19 in February, laboratories across the country had built up a stock of test kits.

“The reason why we in Germany have so few deaths at the moment compared to the number of infected can be largely explained by the fact that we are doing an extremely large number of lab diagnoses,” said Dr. Christian Drosten, chief virologist at Charité, whose team developed the first test.

By now, Germany is conducting around 350,000 coronavirus tests a week, far more than any other European country. Early and widespread testing has allowed the authorities to slow the spread of the pandemic by isolating known cases while they are infectious. It has also enabled lifesaving treatment to be administered in a more timely way.

“When I have an early diagnosis and can treat patients early — for example put them on a ventilator before they deteriorate — the chance of survival is much higher,” Professor Kräusslich said.

Medical staff, at particular risk of contracting and spreading the virus, are regularly tested. To streamline the procedure, some hospitals have started doing block tests, using the swabs of 10 employees, and following up with individual tests only if there is a positive result.

At the end of April, health authorities also plan to roll out a large-scale antibody study, testing random samples of 100,000 people across Germany every week to gauge where immunity is building up.

One key to ensuring broad-based testing is that patients pay nothing for it, said Professor Streeck. This, he said, was one notable difference with the United States in the first several weeks of the outbreak. The coronavirus relief bill passed by Congress last month does provide for free testing.

“A young person with no health insurance and an itchy throat is unlikely to go to the doctor and therefore risks infecting more people,” he said.


German hospitals, whose workers are checked regularly for coronavirus, have withstood the epidemic better than those in many other countries.Credit...Sascha Schuermann/Getty Images

Tracking

On a Friday in late February, Professor Streeck received news that for the first time, a patient at his hospital in Bonn had tested positive for the coronavirus: A 22-year-old man who had no symptoms but whose employer — a school — had asked him to take a test after learning that he had taken part in a carnival event where someone else had tested positive.

In most countries, including the United States, testing is largely limited to the sickest patients, so the man probably would have been refused a test.

Not in Germany. As soon as the test results were in, the school was shut, and all children and staff were ordered to stay at home with their families for two weeks. Some 235 people were tested.

“Testing and tracking is the strategy that was successful in South Korea and we have tried to learn from that,” Professor Streeck said.

Germany also learned from getting it wrong early on: The strategy of contact tracing should have been used even more aggressively, he said.

All those who had returned to Germany from Ischgl, an Austrian ski resort that had an outbreak, for example, should have been tracked down and tested, Professor Streeck said.


Construction workers beginning to prepare an exhibition hall in Berlin to become a treatment center for coronavirus patients. Credit...Pool photo by Clemens Bilan/EPA, via Shutterstock

A Robust Public Health Care System

Before the coronavirus pandemic swept across Germany, University Hospital in Giessen had 173 intensive care beds equipped with ventilators. In recent weeks, the hospital scrambled to create an additional 40 beds and increased the staff that was on standby to work in intensive care by as much as 50 percent.

“We have so much capacity now we are accepting patients from Italy, Spain and France,” said Susanne Herold, a specialist in lung infections at the hospital who has overseen the restructuring. “We are very strong in the intensive care area.”

All across Germany, hospitals have expanded their intensive care capacities. And they started from a high level. In January, Germany had some 28,000 intensive care beds equipped with ventilators, or 34 per 100,000 people. By comparison, that rate is 12 in Italy and 7 in the Netherlands.

By now, there are 40,000 intensive care beds available in Germany.

Some experts are cautiously optimistic that social distancing measures might be flattening the curve enough for Germany’s health care system to weather the pandemic without producing a scarcity of lifesaving equipment like ventilators.

“It is important that we have guidelines for doctors on how to practice triage between patients if they have to,” Professor Streeck said. “But I hope we will never need to use them.”

The time it takes for the number of infections to double has slowed to about nine days. If it slows a little more, to between 12 and 14 days, Professor Herold said, the models suggest that triage could be avoided.

“The curve is beginning to flatten,” she said.



Streets around the Siegestor, or Victory Arch, in Munich are empty. Credit...Laetitia Vancon for The New York Times

Trust in Government

Beyond mass testing and the preparedness of the health care system, many also see Chancellor Angela Merkel’s leadership as one reason the fatality rate has been kept low.

Ms. Merkel, a trained scientist, has communicated clearly, calmly and regularly throughout the crisis, as she imposed ever-stricter social distancing measures on the country. The restrictions, which have been crucial to slowing the spread of the pandemic, met with little political opposition and are broadly followed.

The chancellor’s approval ratings have soared.

“Maybe our biggest strength in Germany,” said Professor Kräusslich, “is the rational decision-making at the highest level of government combined with the trust the government enjoys in the population.”

Christopher F. Schuetze contributed reporting.


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[Nhã Uyên]

Thủ Tướng Anh Boris Johnson được đưa ra khỏi phòng chăm sóc tích cực (ICU) và có thể đi bộ chút chút.


Hy vọng Bojo mau bình phục. Covid mà lấy đi ông thì TT đại ca mất đồng minh kiện Tàu. Bởi Bojo là phiên bản Anh Quốc của TT đại ca và cả hai cùng nhìn về một hướng.

Lành bệnh "Hulk" tóc vàng chắc tức Tàu lắm, thế nào cũng nện nhau vài trận.


**********



Boris Johnson 'able to do short walks' after moving out of ICU
By Emma Reynolds and Luke McGee, CNN


https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/10/uk/bo...ntl/index.html

London (CNN)British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is "able to do short walks" after he was moved out of intensive care at a London hospital where he has been receiving treatment for the coronavirus, a spokesman said Friday.

"The Prime Minister has been able to do short walks, between periods of rest, as part of the care he is receiving to aid his recovery," the spokeman for 10 Downing Street said.

"He has spoken to his doctors and thanks the whole clinical team for the incredible care he has received.

"His thoughts are with those affected by this terrible disease."

[ốc]

Bojo là phiên bản Anh Quốc của TT đại ca

"Bovid Johnson" now.

[ốc]

Nhất nhật tại ICU, thiên thu tại ngoại?


Boris Johnson's illness shook him, and the nation
https://www.theguardian.com/focus/20...ook-the-nation

The worrying news mounted day after day. At just before 8pm on Sunday, on the advice of his doctor, Johnson was driven in a government car a few hundred metres from Downing Street to be admitted to St Thomas’ Hospital.

Again, his team tried to play down the significance of the moment, saying his admission was “precautionary”. But the PM could no longer pretend to be Winston Churchill. He called Dominic Raab, foreign secretary and first secretary of state, and asked him to chair the main government meeting on coronavirus the next morning and stand in for him on other duties.

Then last Monday evening his condition worsened on the ward, and he was transferred to intensive care. The Queen was informed and the news was made public.

His biographer Andrew Gimson said some, at least, of Johnson’s views of himself and the vulnerability of others will have to change.

“Boris never used to believe in illness. He neither admitted to sickness himself, nor noticed it in others. He believed he was strong enough to keep going regardless of any symptoms from which he might be suffering. His strong inclination was to overwork, not to put his feet up. In the light of his experiences one hopes he will change his outlook.”

His father Stanley Johnson also said his son’s cavalier attitude had almost done for him. “To use that American expression, he almost took one for the team. We have got to make sure we play the game properly now,” he said.

The former Tory MP Anna Soubry said she too was delighted to hear Johnson was on the mend. But it was equally important, she said, that he learn from his experiences and become a better and more sensitive leader.

She hopes he will change in other ways too, renewing his enthusiasm for immigration, which he voiced often during his time as mayor of London. And although he had expressed his gratitude to the NHS staff who had treated him, she added, “I hope he thinks about the fact that many of the faces of the people he will have seen treating him so brilliantly in intensive care and on the ward, and who helped nurse him, were immigrant and non-white faces – many. I hope he thinks about that.”

[Triển]

Nhất nhật tại ICU, thiên thu tại ngoại?
She hopes he will change in other ways too, renewing his enthusiasm for immigration, which he voiced often during his time as mayor of London. And although he had expressed his gratitude to the NHS staff who had treated him, she added, “I hope he thinks about the fact that many of the faces of the people he will have seen treating him so brilliantly in intensive care and on the ward, and who helped nurse him, were immigrant and non-white faces – many. I hope he thinks about that.”

Bovid cần ra vô nhà thương thường xuyên chút.

[Triển]

"lãnh đạo" Thụy Điển nói sao vụ này Trù thần?

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US President Trump says Sweden is suffering in the corona crisis
0:44 min


Trump uses Sweden as a example of how not to handle the corona crisis. Credit: ALEX WONG/AFP


Published lördag 11 april kl 11.12


When asked about following the Swedish method of handling the corona outbreak, the USA's President Trump was quick to downplay any benefits of doing so.

The president said that if the United States had followed Sweden's methods then many more American lives would have been lost to covid-19. While several conservative writers in the US have pointed to Sweden as a champion of maintaining some economic activity during the crisis, President Trump has used Sweden as an example of what not to do.

The american economy is extremely hard hit by the virus, with a record 17 million people applying to receive unemployment benefit over the past three weeks there after having lost their jobs.

Keith Foster
english@sverigesradio.se

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[Triển]

ÁO
22:36 Austria is set to become one of the first countries in Europe to ease coronavirus restrictions with thousands of shops reopening on Tuesday. The government, however, has maintained that there is still a long way to go.

Austria imposed a strict lockdown about four weeks ago, which included the closure of all schools, bars, restaurants and non-essential shops. Citizens were encouraged to stay at home. The country has so far reported a total of 368 coronavirus deaths, while the daily increase in cases has come down to low single digits in terms of percentage. This figure is relatively lower than most other countries in Europe.


ANH

23:19 UK Foreign Minister Dominic Raab is set to announce on Thursday that the lockdown in the country will remain until at least May 7, British newspaper The Times has reported.

Raab is currently standing in for Prime Minister Boris Johnson, who is convalescing following almost a week in hospital with COVID-19.



PHÁP
19:40 : France has extended its coronavirus lockdown measures until May 11. President Emmanuel Macron said that date would mark the beginning of a new phase in the country's fight against the outbreak, with schools and creches progressively opening.

France reported 574 more deaths on Monday, bring its total to nearly 15,000. Nevertheless, the number of COVID-19 patients in intensive care dropped for a fifth day running. "The epidemic is starting to slow down. The results are there," Macron said.



TÂY BAN NHA

Spain began allowing some people back to work on Monday, but a strict lockdown remained in place for much of the country. Activities such as manufacturing and construction are allowed to resume, but shops and bars continue to be closed.

Spain's death rate slowed after peaking earlier this month. The country now has nearly 170,000 infections and more than 17,500 deaths.



Ý

Italy's death toll rose above 20,000 on Monday. The country reported 566 new fatalities, an increase from Sunday. Though the strain on intensive care units is beginning to ease, the Italian government last week extended its nationwide lockdown measures until May 3. Certain bookshops and laundries will begin re-opening on a trial basis starting Tuesday.



ĐỨC

In Germany, the country's top scientific academy said the government could begin to safely reopen some schools while still observing hygiene rules. Stores and restaurants could also be reopened, if social distancing regulations are strictly enforced.

The academy added that facemask requirements should be introduced, and that while government offices can gradually reopen, travel and the vast majority of public events should be slowly and incrementally re-introduced.



ÁI NHĨ LAN

Ireland's health minister said Monday that strict social distancing measures will have to remain in place until an effective vaccine or treatment is available. The Irish government has extended its stay-at-home measures until May 5.

"There isn't going to be a magic point at the start of May where life as we knew before the coronavirus can resume," Simon Harris told reporters, as the country's infection count rose above 10,000, with 365 deaths. "Being truthful, social distancing is going to remain a very big part of life, not just in Ireland, but the world over, until we get to a vaccine or an effective treatment."



BẠCH NGA

Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko claimed nobody in his country would die of coronavirus and that social distancing is not required. Unlike most countries around the world, Belarus has not adopted any lockdown measures. The country has kept its borders and churches open and even allowed its football league to continue play in front of crowds.

Lukashenko has described COVID-19 as a "psychosis" and suggested drinking vodka and visiting saunas can fight the virus.

"No one will die of coronavirus in our country. I publicly declare this," Lukashenko said. "We have already found combinations of drugs to save people."

The Belarusian Health Ministry has recorded nearly 3,000 coronavirus cases and 29 deaths, but Lukashenko claimed those fatalities were due to underlying health conditions.




NGA

Russian President Vladimir Putin warned citizens to prepare for an "extraordinary" crisis, as the country reported 2,500 new coronavirus infections, its highest daily rise yet. In a video conference with officials, Putin said the next few weeks would be "decisive" and even suggested the military could be used to curb the spread of the virus, if necessary.

The government must "consider all scenarios for how the situation will develop, even the most complex and extraordinary," he said.

On Monday, Russia's hardest-hit city, Moscow, began issuing digital permits to residents in an effort to reduce lockdown violations.

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[Triển]

Học thầy không tày học phụ .... nữ

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What Do Countries With The Best Coronavirus Responses Have In Common? Women Leaders

Avivah Wittenberg-Cox




Looking for examples of true leadership in a crisis? From Iceland to Taiwan and from Germany to New Zealand, women are stepping up to show the world how to manage a messy patch for our human family. Add in Finland, Iceland and Denmark, and this pandemic is revealing that women have what it takes when the heat rises in our Houses of State. Many will say these are small countries, or islands, or other exceptions. But Germany is large and leading, and the UK is an island with very different outcomes. These leaders are gifting us an attractive alternative way of wielding power. What are they teaching us?

Truth

Angela Merkel, the Chancellor of Germany, stood up early and calmly told her countrymen that this was a serious bug that would infect up to 70% of the population. “It’s serious,” she said, “take it seriously.” She did, so they did too. Testing began right from the get-go. Germany jumped right over the phases of denial, anger and disingenuousness we’ve seen elsewhere. The country’s numbers are far below its European neighbors, and there are signs it may be able to start loosening restrictions relatively soon.


Data from the European Centre for Disease Control as of April 12, 2020 20-first

Decisiveness

Among the first and the fastest responses was from Tsai Ing-wen in Taiwan. Back in January, at the first sign of a new illness, she introduced 124 measures to block the spread without having to resort to the lockdowns that have become common elsewhere. She is now sending 10 million face masks to the U.S. and Europe. Tsai managed what CNN has called “among the world’s best” responses, keeping the epidemic under control, still reporting only six deaths.

Jacinda Ardern in New Zealand was early to lockdown and crystal clear on the maximum level of alert she was putting the country under – and why. She imposed self-isolation on people entering New Zealand astonishingly early, when there were just 6 cases in the whole country, and banned foreigners entirely from entering soon after. Clarity and decisiveness are saving New Zealand from the storm. As of mid-April they have suffered only four deaths, and where other countries talk of lifting restrictions, Ardern is adding to them, making all returning New Zealanders quarantine in designated locations for 14 days.

Tech

Iceland, under the leadership of Prime Minister Katrín Jakobsdóttir, is offering free coronavirus testing to all its citizens, and will become a key case study in the true spread and fatality rates of Covid-19. Most countries have limited testing to people with active symptoms. Iceland is going whole hog. In proportion to its population the country has already screened five times as many people as South Korea has, and instituted a thorough tracking system that means they haven’t had to lock down or shut schools.

Sanna Marin became the world’s youngest head of state when she was elected last December in Finland. It took a millennial leader to spearhead using social media influencers as key agents in battling the coronavirus crisis. Recognizing that not everyone reads the press, they are inviting influencers of any age to spread fact-based information on managing the pandemic.

Love

Norway’s Prime Minister, Erna Solberg, had the innovative idea of using television to talk directly to her country’s children. She was building on the short, 3-minute press conference that Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen had held a couple of days earlier. Solberg held a dedicated press conference where no adults were allowed. She responded to kids’ questions from across the country, taking time to explain why it was OK to feel scared. The originality and obviousness of the idea takes one’s breath away. How many other simple, humane innovations would more female leadership unleash?

Generally, the empathy and care which all of these female leaders have communicated seems to come from an alternate universe than the one we have gotten used to. It’s like their arms are coming out of their videos to hold you close in a heart-felt and loving embrace. Who knew leaders could sound like this? Now we do.

Now, compare these leaders and stories with the strongmen using the crisis to accelerate a terrifying trifecta of authoritarianism: blame-“others”, capture-the-judiciary, demonize-the-journalists, and blanket their country in I-will-never-retire darkness (Trump, Bolsonaro, Obrador, Modi, Duterte, Orban, Putin, Netanyahu…).

There have been years of research timidly suggesting that women’s leadership styles might be different and beneficial. Instead, too many political organizations and companies are still working to get women to behave more like men if they want to lead or succeed. Yet these national leaders are case study sightings of the seven leadership traits men may want to learn from women.

It’s time we recognized it – and elected more of it.



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[Triển]

Ôm-cây-đi-anh, ôm-cây-đi-cô

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Iceland recommends hugging trees instead of people



During New York Governor Andrew Cuomo's daily coronavirus press briefings, he usually offers an empathetic lament about how hard this pandemic is for us emotionally. "There is something to this lack of ability to connect," he said in one briefing. "Don't hug, don't kiss, stay six feet away. We are emotional beings and it is important for us, especially at times of fear, times of stress, to feel connected to someone, to feel comforted by someone."

Well the Icelandic Forestry Service has a solution for that: Hug a tree.

Larissa Kyzer reports in Iceland Review that the service is encouraging people to cuddle up to a tree while social distancing is keeping loved ones out of arm's reach.

“When you hug [a tree], you feel it first in your toes and then up your legs and into your chest and then up into your head,” forest ranger Þór Þorfinnsson tells the Icelandic National Broadcasting Service (RÚV). “It’s such a wonderful feeling of relaxation and then you’re ready for a new day and new challenges.”



Given the name of the site where you are reading this story, we are obviously on board for treehugging. But aside from the novelty of the idea, there's plenty of science to back it up. The Japanese have been practicing and studying "shinrin-yoku" (forest bathing) for years and the evidence is clear: Spending time in nature has numerous benefits for both mind and body.

Back in Iceland, forest rangers in the Hallormsstaður National Forest have been clearing paths to allow visitors to safely amble among the arboreal huggees. (Yes, they do have trees and forests in Iceland.) Just like supermarket checkout lines in the United States and elsewhere, the rangers have marked spaces of six feet distance to help maintain social distancing. And as with everything else in the time of COVID-19, precautions should be heeded.

Þorfinnsson recommends that not everyone should embrace the first tree they see; potential huggers should venture deeper into the forest. “There are plenty of trees…it doesn’t have to be big and stout, it can be any size.”

And since this is Iceland, of course the rangers have a prescription for treehugging.

“Five minutes is really good, if you can give yourself five minutes of your day to hug [a tree], that’s definitely enough,” he says. “You can also do it many times a day – that wouldn’t hurt. But once a day will definitely do the trick, even for just a few days.”

“It’s also really nice to close your eyes while you’re hugging a tree,” he adds. “I lean my cheek up against the trunk and feel the warmth and the currents flowing from the tree and into me. You can really feel it.”

“It’s recommended that people get outdoors during this horrible time,” says Bergrún Anna Þórsteinsdóttir, an assistant forest ranger at Hallormsstaður. “Why not enjoy the forest and hug a tree and get some energy from this place?”

So there you go; take it from Iceland and TreeHugger and go hug a tree. And if you need me, I'll be outside with my arms around the Callery pear tree in front of my building.


/*src.: https://www.treehugger.com/health/ic...ad-people.html

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Icelanders urged to hug trees to overcome isolation



Iceland's forestry service has come up with a novel way to overcome the sense of isolation many people suffer because of Covid-19 preventative measures.

"Why not come and enjoy the forest, where you can hug the trees and just get the energy from this area," Bergrun Arna Thorsteinsdottir, a senior ranger at the Hallormsstadur National Forest in East Iceland, told the RUV public broadcaster.

She has the backing of Thor Thorfinnsson, the overall forest manager for East Iceland, who gave RUV listeners practical tips on how to get the most out of the encounter.

"It's good to close your eyes while hugging a tree. I press my cheek against it and feel the warmth and currents flowing from the tree into me... it starts in your toes, runs up your legs and through your body into your brain. You get such a good relaxing feeling that are ready for a new day and new challenges," he says.

The forestry service has also put a page of photos on its website, showing the many ways you can hug a tree.

Thor recommends not rushing a tree hug. Holding a tree in your arms five minutes a day, he says, should be enough, adding that trees give out most energy during the summer.

The rangers have worked hard to cut paths through the forest snow at Hallormsstadur, so people can get close to the trees, as well as enjoy more conventional outdoor activities.

And they have taken pains to make sure the paths wide are enough that visitors can easily keep the recommended two-metre distance between them while out walking, Bergrun said.

Hallormsstaður is one of Iceland's biggest forests, which was saved from eradication at the turn of the 20th century.

It has over 90 species of trees, many over one hundred years old.


Iceland Forest Service
Image caption 'If you can't hug a human, hug a tree'


Reporting by Martin Morgan and Krassi Twigg

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[Triển]

Sofia of Sweden - Công chúa y tá phụ bếp

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Princess Sofia Of Sweden Starts Work At Hospital Treating COVID Patients

"In the crisis we find ourselves in, the Princess wants to get involved and make a contribution as a voluntary worker..."


Princess Sofia of Sweden, 35, is volunteering at a hospital in Sweden.

Princess Sofia of Sweden has started working at a hospital treating coronavirus patients to help in the country's fight against the pandemic. The 35-year-old completed a three-day intensive training programme online that will allow her to volunteer at Sophiahemmet Hospital in Stockholm, of which she is Honorary Chair.

According to The Royal Central, Princess Sofia, who has joined the hospital as a healthcare assistant, will not be directly involved in dealing with COVID-19 patients. Instead, she will support the healthcare professionals with non-medical tasks.

The online course by Sophiahemmet Hospital trains people with a non-medical background in support duties, which can include cleaning, working in the kitchen, disinfecting equipment and more. The hospital is training up to 80 people a week to ease the burden on on doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals, whose workload has increased significantly due to the coronavirus pandemic.

"In the crisis we find ourselves in, the Princess wants to get involved and make a contribution as a voluntary worker to relieve the large workload of health care professionals," a spokesperson for the royal court said, according to The Royal Central.

Photos shared online show the former model on the first day of her job with co-workers. Wearing blue scrubs, they maintain social distance while posing for a picture.

Princess Sofia is married to Prince Carl-Phillip, 40, who is fourth in line to the throne. Her efforts to ease the burden on healthcare workers come as Sweden reports over 1,300 from the highly infectious coronavirus.

Earlier, Miss England 2019 also traded her crown for scrubs when she resumed work as a doctor amid the COVID crisis in the UK.

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