The Euro 2024 qualifier was abandoned at half-time for security reasons with the score 1-1.

Two Swedish nationals had been shot dead in the Belgian capital earlier on Monday.

European football’s governing body said the result at the half-time interval was “confirmed as final”.

“Each team is awarded one point with the Group F standings to be updated accordingly,” Uefa added.

“Any suspension is considered served and single yellow cards remain valid.”

The two victims were in Brussels to watch their national side play Belgium, Swedish football officials said.

A third Sweden fan was seriously injured in the attack, which the authorities have said was a “terror attack targeting Sweden and Swedish citizens”.

The 45-year-old man behind the attack was shot dead by police on Tuesday.

Monday’s game started while the gunman was still at large because Belgian authorities and police considered the stadium – 5km (three miles) from the location of the shooting – “the safest place”.

At that point a large-scale manhunt was under way and Belgium raised its terror alert to the highest level.

The match was halted at half-time once players and staff learned of the shootings, and supporters were asked to remain in the stadium. An evacuation started at about 22:45 BST, with the last fans and staff leaving at 04:00 local time.

Some 400 Sweden fans were then placed under police protection in hotels in the city before making their way home. Sweden’s football federation has set up emergency help and support lines for those caught up in the incident.

Speaking after the game, Sweden captain and Manchester United defender Victor Lindelof said there was “no reason” to replay the game as Belgium have qualified for next summer’s Euro 2024 tournament and Sweden can no longer do so.

Uefa said on Thursday: “To take the mentioned decision, the Executive Committee took note that it had proved impossible to play the remaining part of the match on the following day.

“Both the Royal Belgian Football Association and the Swedish Football Association, given the circumstances, explicitly expressed their desire not to play the remaining match time and to consider the result at the half-time interval (1-1) as final.

“The result of this match does not impact the qualification of Group F since Belgium is already mathematically qualified to the UEFA EURO 2024 final tournament (together with Austria) and Sweden is mathematically eliminated.

“The respective fixtures do not allow any date to be used in the upcoming November international window, when the preliminary group stage of the competition must be concluded, to be followed by the play-off draw and final tournament draw.”

Meanwhile, the governing body has confirmed that “no Uefa competition matches shall be played in Israel until further notice” because of the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.

Uefa said: “The Israel Football Association and its clubs Maccabi Haifa FC and Maccabi Tel-Aviv have been requested to propose alternative venues/stadiums (which must comply with all applicable UEFA regulations) outside the territory of Israel for their home matches to be used for as long as this decision remains in force.”

Maccabi Haifa and Maccabi Tel Aviv were scheduled to play in the Europa League and Europa Conference respectively on 26 October.

Haifa’s trip to Villarreal has been postponed until 6 December with Tel Aviv’s encounter with Zorya Luhansk set for 25 November.

The killings happened in the city hours before the game and are being treated as terrorism. The gunman is at large.

The decision to abandon the game was confirmed at about 21:30 BST.

Fans and players were ordered to stay in the King Baudouin Stadium for their own safety, before an evacuation began at about 22:45 BST.

The Sweden team were given a police escort to the airport, while Sweden fans were accompanied by the police into the city.

Sweden boss Janne Andersson said he and the players only found out about the shooting at half-time.

“When I came down for the break, I got this information. Immediately, I felt that it was completely unreal. What kind of world do we live in today?” he said.

“I came into the locker room and when the team started talking, we agreed 100% that we didn’t want to play on out of respect for the victims and their families.”

It is not yet known whether the victims were in Brussels to watch the Euro 2024 qualifier.

A Swedish FA social media post said: “Our thoughts go out to all the relatives of those affected in Brussels.”

The Belgian national team’s account posted a statement that read: “Our thoughts are with all those affected.”

A video posted on social media showed an Arabic-speaking man claiming he carried out the attack in the name of God.

Following the shooting on Boulevard d’Ypres, which happened at around 18:00 BST (19:00 local time), police and emergency services cordoned off nearby roads.

Belgian Prime Minister Alexander de Croo “offered my sincere condolences to the Swedish PM following tonight’s harrowing attack on Swedish citizens in Brussels”.

He added: “Our thoughts are with the families and friends who lost their loved ones. As close partners the fight against terrorism is a joint one.”

The game was 1-1 when it was abandoned.

Sweden captain Victor Lindelof said: “Belgium are already qualified and we don’t have the opportunity to get to the European Championship, so I see no reason to play [replay the game].”

The victory comes after a tumultuous month following former Royal Spanish Football Federation (RFEF) president Luis Rubiales’ unwanted kiss on Jennifer Hermoso during the title celebrations.

Amid the ongoing fallout, La Roja found a way past Sweden in the UEFA Nations League game, clinching victory at almost the last possible moment as Mariona Caldentey scored from the penalty spot deep into injury time.

Earlier this week, 20 players named to the national team reiterated their refusal to play the game against Sweden.

After crisis talks, 21 of the 23 players selected agreed to play after the federation committed to make immediate changes to its structure.

Before the match, both teams held a banner that read ‘#SeAcabó’ which translates into English as ‘It’s over.’ The banner also included the phrase, ‘Our fight is the global fight.’

Spain’s players also wore wristbands with ‘#SeAcabó’ written on them.

England and Scotland players wore similar wristbands during their own UEFA Nations League game on Friday, once again displaying the solidarity among female soccer players that has been evident throughout the month-long scandal.

“At last we ended up playing. We went through some very difficult last few days, nights without sleeping, we are exhausted but we are not the type that make excuses,” Athenea del Castillo said afterwards, according to Reuters.

“We came here, showed up and we fought until the end. Very proud of our team and how we delivered this win with heart and grit.”

On the field, Spain and Sweden met in a replay of the Women’s World Cup semifinal last month and it was Sweden who took the lead first after Magdalena Eriksson headed in a corner.

Spain’s players celebrate after winning their UEFA Nations League match against Sweden.

Jonathan Nackstrand/AFP/Getty Images

Spain equalized 15 minutes later when Del Castillo’s speculative strike was fumbled by goalkeeper Zećira Mušović and deflected off her into the net.

Eva Navarro then gave La Roja a 2-1 lead as her powerful shot sailed high over Mušović’s head, completing a flowing move that had sliced the Swedish defense wide open.

Sweden equalized through Lina Hurtig before there was late drama.

Amanda Ilestedt conceded a penalty in the 94th minute and was red carded for pulling back Amaiur Sarriegi when she was through on goal.

Caldentey made no mistake from the spot to give her team victory.

Away from the pitch, the turmoil within Spanish football continued as the RFEF announced the firing of its director of integrity on Friday.

No further information was provided 

She rifled in a shot from the edge of the area to add to Fridolina Rolfo’s first-half penalty as Sweden won the bronze medal match for the second World Cup in succession.

Despite the defeat, this represents co-hosts Australia’s best-ever World Cup finish but the Matildas were unable to end on a high.

Rolfo’s penalty gave Peter Gerhardsson’s side the lead after a video assistant referee (VAR) check confirmed that Claire Hunt had clipped Stina Blackstenius in the box after 26 minutes.

And on the hour mark, Blackstenius played a superb square ball to Asllani, who stroked in a first-time shot to double their lead.

“It was an incredibly important match and the final 10 minutes were really tough,” said Sweden coach Peter Gerhardsson.

“So when that final whistle went and we had won, there was a great sense of relief and it was a wonderful feeling.

“It’s great to win a match of this magnitude – there’s been a lot of attention paid to this tournament back in Sweden.”

Teenager Salma Paralluelo seemed to have settled a disappointing match when she put Spain ahead in the 81st minute, but Rebecka Blomqvist found a brilliant equaliser, only for Olga Carmona to restore an advantage that proved decisive.

The first half unfolded in the expected manner, Spain dominating the ball and probing a disciplined and well-organised Swedish defence.

As such, both sides struggled to create clear-cut chances, Carmona shooting just wide and Fridolina Rolfo’s shot – saved by Cata Coll – the closest each side came to breaking the deadlock.

After the break, things got more tense and scrappier, neither side able to fashion goalscoring opportunities nor exert pressure.

Alba Redondo might have put Spain in front after 70 minutes, but couldn’t convert her effort while prostrate.

However, Paralluelo – on as a substitute – was dangerous from the minute she arrived, her touch and pace bothering the Swedish defence, and when the ball fell to her in the box, her finish was unerring and her celebration wild.

Blomqvist, though, soon restored parity only for Carmona to sweep home the winner.

Japan were seen as title contenders after gliding through the group stage and defeating Norway in the last 16.

Here, they fell behind to Amanda Ilestedt’s goal before Manchester City midfielder Filippa Angeldahl doubled Sweden’s lead from the penalty spot.

Japan were awarded a controversial penalty, but Riko Ueki’s 76th-minute attempt hit the bar, before West Ham’s Honoka Hayashi pulled a goal back in the 87th minute.

That lifeline came moments after Aoba Fujino hit the woodwork from a free-kick, but Sweden saw the game out to make it into the last four.

New Arsenal defender Ilestedt has emerged as one of the players of the tournament, and she now has four goals.

She struck from the edge of the six-yard box in the 32nd minute after Japan failed to clear.

Goalkeeper Ayaka Yamashita kept Japan in the contest when she tipped an attempt by Sweden captain Kosovare Asllani onto the post, while Stina Blackstenius had earlier missed a glorious chance when the game was goalless.

There looked to be no coming back for Japan when Angeldahl doubled the lead from the spot after the video assistant referee (VAR) spotted a handball by Japan’s Liverpool midfielder Fuka Nagano.

Japan have shone at this World Cup, scoring 14 times in their previous four matches.

But they struggled to test Sweden keeper Zecira Musovic enough at Eden Park as Sweden moved to within one win of a first World Cup final since 2003 when they lost to Germany in the final in the United States.

USA dominated the 120 minutes but were denied by an inspired goalkeeping performance from Zecira Musovic as the match finished goalless.

The drama only ratcheted up further in the shootout. Three USA players missed, including their footballing icon Megan Rapinoe on her last appearance on the world stage, before Sweden won in remarkable circumstances.

USA keeper Alyssa Naeher appeared to have saved Lina Hurtig’s effort at the second attempt, having pushed the initial effort up before clawing it out.

But after checking with the video assistant referee (VAR), referee Stephanie Frappart awarded the goal and sparked wild Sweden celebrations.

USA manager Vlatko Andonovski was not convinced the ball had crossed the line, despite technology confirming the goal.

“It’s a tough moment,” he said. “It’s a moment where it’s hard to go through, where you hope it didn’t cross the line. I see pictures and I still can’t see it now, but proves how cruel this game can be.”

Sweden go through to face Japan in the quarter-finals.

They were indebted to Musovic, who made 11 saves in a game where the USA looked more like the team which won the World Cup in 2015 and 2019 than the one which snuck through the group stage.

But they could not score and in the shootout Rapinoe, Sophia Smith and Kelley O’Hara all missed, Rapinoe with what is her final action at a World Cup as she has announced she will retire at the end of the year.

It condemns the USA to their worst performance at the tournament. They had never previously failed to make it to the semi-finals.

With first place essentially guaranteed thanks to a vastly superior goal difference, Sweden made nine changes in Hamilton and lacked the cohesion of their first two games but still had too much for their opponents.

After a fiercely contested hour, Sweden’s extra quality shone through, with Rebecka Blomqvist finding space in the box to power home Sofia Jakobsson’s cross from close range.

Elin Rubensson put the result beyond doubt with a coolly taken late penalty after Blomqvist had been fouled in the box as Argentina sought to defend a free-kick.

Argentina depart the tournament having finished bottom of the group with one point.

They battled hard here but were unable to hurt the Swedes and claim what would have been a historic double at a World Cup finals – a maiden win and progression to the knockout rounds for the first time.

South Africa join the Swedes in the last 16 after winning 3-2 against Italy in a dramatic game in Wellington.

The 2019 semi-finalists showed why they remain, heavyweights of the women’s game, as Amanda Ilestedt, Fridolina Rolfo and Stina Blackstenius scored in the space of seven minutes at the end of the first half.

New Arsenal signing Ilestedt opened the scoring with a glancing header from Jonna Andersson’s corner before Rolfo, a Champions League winner with Barcelona, used her knee to double the lead after another corner.

Italy, who had recorded clean sheets in six of their previous 13 World Cup matches, conceded a third when Blackstenius, another Arsenal player, finished from close range.

In front of a crowd of 29,143, it went from bad to worse for Le Azzurre when Ilestedt added the fourth – her third goal of the tournament – from another header from yet another corner.

And substitute Rebecka Blomqvist added the fifth in the 95th minute.

“I really want to play tribute to the players,” said Sweden boss Peter Gerhardsson. “Not the first time I’m impressed by these players.”

Andersson’s corners were a real threat with the defender becoming the first Sweden player on record (since they began in 2011) to provide two assists in a single Women’s World Cup match.

“We have been good at set-pieces for a long time,” added Gerhardsson.

Sweden will face one of the United States, the Netherlands or Portugal in the knockout stage.

Italy remain second in the group with three points from two games, but need to defeat South Africa next Wednesday back in Wellington (08:00 BST) to make sure of progressing in the tournament.

Sweden will face Belgium and Azerbaijan later this month.

The AC Milan forward has been sidelined for much of the season because of a knee injury.

He quit international football after Euro 2016 but returned in 2021 for their unsuccessful World Cup qualifying campaign.

Boss Janne Andersson said he doesn’t see Ibrahimovic “as a starter” but that it will offer his side more “substitution possibilities”.

Ibrahimovic, who has made three appearances from the bench for AC Milan this season, last featured for his country against Poland in their World Cup qualification play-off loss in 2022.

The former Manchester United and Paris St-Germain striker is Sweden’s all-time top scorer, with 62 goals in 121 matches.

Paolo Macchiarini, once seen as a pioneering transplant surgeon, was cleared of two charges of assault.

Three patients treated in Sweden died.

Prosecutors had recommended Macchiarini serve five years in jail but the district court ruled that he had not intended to cause the patients harm.

He consistently denied the charges.

Macchiarini was feted internationally in 2011 for carrying out the world’s first synthetic organ transplant at Sweden’s Karolinska University Hospital. His work using plastic tracheas with stem cells held out the prospect of patients no longer waiting for donors.

He had been hired a year earlier from Italy, despite damning references from his previous employers.

Andemariam Beyene, a graduate student from Eritrea who received the first transplant in 2011, died two and a half years later after a series of infections. His synthetic trachea was found to have come loose. Shortly after the operation he told the BBC: “I was very scared, very scared about the operation. But it was live or die.”

Two more patients were also given transplants at the Karolinska hospital and eventually died.

Christopher Lyles from the US was given a synthetic trachea transplant in 2011 and died within months. Yesim Cetir, who was in her twenties, was operated on in 2011 and died in 2017. Other patients treated abroad also died, including Russian mother Julia Tuulik.

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Macchiarini was eventually suspended by the acclaimed Karolinska Institute. A TV documentary later exposed alarming practices he carried out during surgery and prosecutors investigated him for criminal wrongdoing.

The case finally came to Solna district court near Stockholm, where he was charged with the criminal offences of aggravated assault and causing bodily harm. However, he was not accused of killing the patients.

Chief judge Bjoern Skaensberg said the court had agreed with prosecutors that the surgery had not been consistent with “science and proven experience”. However, he told public broadcaster SVT that it had concluded that “two of the interventions were justifiable, but not the third”.

He said the court had found that all three patients had suffered serious bodily injury. But Macchiarini was cleared of assault, he said, because no intent to harm had been proven.

Macchiarini had always denied any wrongdoing, arguing that the transplants were aimed at saving the patients’ lives.

However, whistleblower Dr Matthias Corbascio told SVT that the verdict was a scandal and there had never been any chance of the operations succeeding.

The suspended sentence means he will be on probation for the next two years.

Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the two Nordic nations should not bother sending delegations to convince Turkey, a key Nato member, of their bids.

He is angered by what he sees as their willingness to host Kurdish militants.

Without the support of all Nato members, Sweden and Finland cannot join the military alliance.

On Monday, Sweden said Europe was living in a dangerous new reality, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said the move by Finland and Sweden to join the 30-member military alliance did not threaten Moscow directly – but stressed that any expansion of military infrastructure would trigger a response from the Kremlin.

At a news conference on Monday, Mr Erdogan said Turkey opposed the Finnish and the Swedish bids to join Nato, describing Sweden as a “hatchery” for terrorist organisations.

“Neither of these countries have a clear, open attitude towards terrorist organisation. How can we trust them?” the Turkish president said.

Turkey accuses the two Nordic nations of harbouring members of the Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), a group it views as a terrorist organisation, and followers of Fethullah Gulen, who Ankara accuses of orchestrating a 2016 coup attempt.

All member states must agree that a new country can join Nato, therefore Sweden and Finland require Turkey’s support in their bid to join the military alliance.

Mr Erdogan said Swedish and Finnish delegations should not bother going to Ankara, Turkey’s capital, to convince it to approve their Nato bid.

His government has also pledged to block applications from countries that have imposed sanctions on it.

In 2019, both Nordic nations slapped an arms embargo on Ankara after its incursion into Syria.

Speaking in Parliament in Helsinki on Monday, Finnish Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto said he was surprised by Turkey’s stance, but added that his government was not interested in “bargaining” with Mr Erdogan.

Finland formally announced its bid to join Nato last week.

It was joined by neighbour Sweden on Saturday in a move that will end the Scandinavian country’s centuries-long military non-alignment.

“Nato will strengthen Sweden, Sweden will strengthen Nato,” Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson said at a briefing on Monday.

She said Europe was now living in a dangerous new reality, referring to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

“We are leaving one era behind us and entering a new one,” Ms Andersson told lawmakers during a debate in Stockholm, also on Monday.

She said a formal application could be handed in within several days and would be synchronised with Finland. Nato has signalled its willingness to admit the two new members.

However, Ms Andersson stressed that Sweden did not want permanent Nato bases or nuclear weapons on its territory.

Norway, Denmark and Iceland – all Nato members – immediately said they were ready to support Sweden and Finland by all means necessary if they came under attack.

The UK, also a Nato member, has already given security guarantees to Sweden and Finland to cover the transition period.

Monday’s announcement by Sweden came as Nato began one of its biggest exercises in the Baltic region, involving some 15,000 troops. Named “Hedgehog”, the drills in Estonia involve 10 countries, including Finland and Sweden.

In neighboring Finland, lawmakers are expected later in the day to formally endorse Finnish leaders’ decision also to join.

The moves by the two Nordic countries, ending Sweden’s more than 200 years of military nonalignment and Finland’s nonalignment after World War II, have provoked the ire of the Kremlin.

While most NATO members are keen to welcome the two countries as quickly as possible, Turkey has potentially complicated their accession by saying it cannot allow them to become members because of their perceived inaction against exiled Kurdish militants.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday doubled down on comments last week indicating that the two Nordic countries´ path to NATO would be anything but smooth. All 30 current NATO countries must agree to open the door to new members. He accused the two Nordic countries of refusing to extradite “terrorists” wanted by his country.

In Stockholm, Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde signed the formal request to join the Alliance, which she said would be sent to NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg

“It feels like we have taken a decision that is the best for Sweden,” she said while signing the document.

Finnish President Sauli Niinisto arrived in Sweden for an official two-day visit and was welcomed by Sweden’s King Carl XVI Gustaf and Queen Silvia, who had invited him. Niinisto is scheduled to address Sweden’s Parliament in a speech expected to focus on NATO, and meet Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson.

Three people were injured in Norrkoping on Sunday when officers fired warning shots at rioters, police said.

The violence was sparked by a series of rallies organised by the Danish-Swedish politician Rasmus Paludan.

He says he has burned a copy of Islam’s holy book and wants to do so again.

Muslims consider the Quran the sacred word of God and view any intentional damage or show of disrespect towards it as deeply offensive.

Saudi Arabia has condemned what it called the “deliberate abuse of the holy Quran by some extremists in Sweden, and provocation and incitement against Muslims”.

Iran and Iraq earlier summoned the Swedish ambassadors to lodge protests.

Sweden’s national police chief, Anders Thornberg, said he had never seen such violent riots following Sunday’s clashes in Norrkoping, which is about 160km (99 miles) south-west of Stockholm, and nearby Linkoping.

The two cites also witnessed riots on Friday, along with the Stockholm suburb of Rinkeby and the western city of Orebro. On Saturday, there was a riot in the southern city of Malmo.

On Monday, police said 26 police officers and 14 members of the public had been injured in the violence and that more than 20 vehicles had been damaged or destroyed.

They said that around 200 people had been involved in the violence, adding they believed it was organised by networks of criminal gangs. Some of the individuals are already known to police and Sweden’s security service, Sapo.

Sunday’s violence in Norrkoping came after Rasmus Paludan said he planned to hold a rally there. However, he never showed up in the city.

In a statement posted by his far-right, anti-immigrant Stram Kurs (Hard Line) party, Paludan said he cancelled the rally because Swedish authorities had “shown that they are completely incapable of protecting themselves and me”.

He had earlier appeared on Thursday in the central city of Jonkoping, but as he talked into a megaphone while holding a Quran, his words were drowned out by a priest ringing the bells of a local church in protest.

Protests against plans by Stram Kurs to burn the Quran have turned violent in Sweden before. In 2020, protesters set cars on fire and shop fronts were damaged in clashes in Malmö.

Paludan represented Stram Kurs party in the last Danish elections in 2019, where it received 1.8 % of the vote, failing to win a seat.

In 2020, he was jailed in Denmark for a month for a string of offences including racism.

He plans to stand in Swedish elections in September, but he reportedly does not yet have the necessary number of signatures to secure his candidature.

They now travel to Rome, where they’ll meet England on Saturday, while Sweden – who fought and defended resolutely after Marcus Danielson was sent off to go home.

The first half started slowly but livened up after 20 minutes or so and on 27 Ukraine took the lead, Oleksandr Zinchenko driving home after good work from Taras Stepanenko and Andriy Yarmolenko.

Naturally, Sweden then turned it up but found clear-cut chances hard to come by – until, on 43 minutes, Alexander Isak found Emil Forsberg, who clattered home a drive – with the help of a deflection – that gave him his fourth goal of the competition.

Both sides had chances to win the game in the second half, both hitting the woodwork – Sweden twice – but as the players tired, bodies strewn about the pitch, penalties looked the only possible outcome.

But then on 100 minutes, Danielson lunged for the ball, and though he got it, he clattered Artem Beslin in the follow-through and the ref was forced to send him off, while Beselin limped off.

This, though, galvanised Ukraine – eventually – and with second left, Zinchenko planted a perfect cross onto Dovbyk’s head, and a game of exquisite strangeness ended in spectacular style.

But not Sweden. Restaurants and bars are open in the Nordic country, playgrounds and schools too, and the government is relying on voluntary action to stem the spread of Covid-19.

It’s a controversial approach, and one that’s drawn US President Donald Trump’s attention. “Sweden did that, the herd, they call it the herd. Sweden’s suffering very, very badly,” Trump said on Tuesday.

But the Swedish government is confident its policy can work. Foreign Minister Ann Linde told Swedish TV on Wednesday that Trump was “factually wrong” to suggest that Sweden was following the “herd immunity” theory — of letting enough people catch the virus while protecting the vulnerable, meaning a country’s population builds up immunity against the disease.

Sweden’s strategy, she said, was: “No lockdown and we rely very much on people taking responsibility themselves.

“The country’s state epidemiologist, Anders Tegnell, also pushed back against Trump’s criticism that Sweden was doing badly. “I think Sweden is doing okay,” he told CNN affiliate Expressen. “It’s producing quality results the same way it’s always done. So far Swedish health care is handling this pandemic in a fantastic way.”

As of April 9, Sweden has 9,141 cases of the Covid-19 virus and 793 deaths, according to Johns Hopkins University figures.

Sweden’s actions are about encouraging and recommending, not compulsion. Two days after Spain imposed a nationwide lockdown on March 14, Swedish authorities were encouraging people to wash hands and stay at home if sick. On March 24, new rules were introduced to avoid crowding at restaurants. But they very much stayed open.

So did many primary and secondary schools. Gatherings of up to 50 people are still permitted.

Tegnell defended the decision to keep schools open. “We know that closing down schools has a lot of effects on health care because a lot of people can’t go to their work anymore. A lot of children are suffering when they can’t go to school.

“Elisabeth Liden, a journalist in Stockholm, told CNN the city is less crowded now. “The subway went from being completely packed to having only a few passengers per car. I get the sense that a vast majority are taking the recommendations of social distancing seriously.

“But she added that while “some Swedes won´t even kiss their spouse, others are throwing Easter parties.”

Fresh surge

Much of Sweden’s focus has been to protect the elderly. Anyone aged 70 or older has been told to stay at home and limit their social contact as much as possible. One Swedish government official said that on the whole people supported the government’s approach, but many were “upset about the fact that no ban on visiting homes for elderly was set until recently [April 1], and now the virus is widely spread among these homes, causing the death toll to rise.

“The World Health Organization (WHO) is skeptical of Sweden’s approach. Noting a fresh surge in the country’s infections, the WHO told CNN Wednesday that it’s “imperative” that Sweden “increase measures to control spread of the virus, prepare and increase capacity of the health system to cope, ensure physical distancing and communicate the why and how of all measures to the population.”

“Only an ‘all of society’ approach will work to prevent escalation and turn this situation around,” said a WHO Europe spokesperson.

Sweden’s “curve” — the rate of infections and deaths caused by coronavirus — is certainly steeper than that of many other European countries with stricter measures. A study by Imperial College London estimated that 3.1% of the Swedish population was infected (as of March 28) — compared to 0.41% in Norway and 2.5% in the UK.

As for deaths, by April 8, coronavirus accounted for 67 fatalities per 1 million Swedish citizens, according to the Swedish Health Ministry. Norway had 19 deaths per million, Finland seven per million. The number of deaths rose 16% on Wednesday.

Some Swedish researchers are demanding the government must be stricter. This week several prominent Swedish clinicians wrote an open letter lamenting that large numbers of people are visiting bars, restaurants and shopping malls, even ski slopes. “This unfortunately is translating into a death toll that continues to climb in Sweden.”

Cecilia Söderberg-Nauclér — a virus immunology researcher at Sweden’s Karolinska Institute — is one of more than 2,000 health professionals and researchers who signed a petition demanding tougher action. She told CNN: “We are not winning this battle. It is horrifying.

“Where I live people are working from home, but they go to local restaurants, local cafés and they mix up old people and young people from schools and universities. That is not social distancing.

“Söderberg-Nauclér says the situation in Stockholm, where the great majority of the country’s infections have occurred, is “lost,” but adds: “It is not too late for rest of the country. I wish we would lock down and take control of regions not affected in same way.”

Kwame first met his estranged wife in 2014 when he was playing in the southern Swedish city of Mjölby. They married the following year.

A few months after the wedding, he signed a transfer to the town of Gävle, located about 300 kilometres away from Mjölby. Bonsu’s wife had wanted him to stay to continue his studies and this caused serious rift in their marriage.

According to court documents, he will also have to pay 122,600 kronor ($14,000) in compensation to his wife, who is a Swedish national. His lawyer has appealed the sentence.

A Swedish court on Friday sentenced a Ghanaian football player in Sweden’s second division to two years in prison for raping and beating his wife.

After serving his sentence, 22-year-old Kwame Bonsu, who played for the Gefle IF club, will be expelled from the Scandinavian country where he has lived in since 2013, the Gavle District Court said.

Gefle on Friday said Bonsu was dismissed from the team with immediate effect.

he will also have to pay 245,000 kronor (at least 25,000 euros approximately) in compensation to his wife, who is a Swedish national.

He first met her in 2014 when he was playing in the southern Swedish city of Mjolby. They married the following year.

A few months after the wedding he signed a transfer to the town of Gavle, located about 300 kilometres (190 miles) away from Mjolby.

Bonsu’s wife had wanted him to stay to continue his studies.

The victim said the rape and beatings took place in the couple’s apartment during an evening in November 2015 when he had refused to let her out.

Bonsu repeatedly denied the charges, but testimony from his wife’s relatives led the court to believe the victim’s version of events.