Swedish state epidemiologist: We're surprised by the high death toll

He denied that Sweden’s strategy to avoid a compulsory lockdown was a conscious decision to accept a higher death toll, and instead said that was never part of the plan.

Dr Anders Tegnell, Sweden’s state epidemiologist, described Sweden’s approach on “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” on Tuesday.

He said: “We never really calculated with a high death toll initially, I must say.”

“We calculated on more people being sick, but the death toll really came as a surprise to us.”