STOCKHOLM, Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Swedish authorities on Tuesday announced restrictions on the number of passengers on trains and buses, out of fear that the COVID-19 pandemic might worsen after a slow and steady downward trend since the week before Christmas.
"It seems that the measures we had in place had a dampening effect, but it is worrying that the declining trend has stopped," state epidemiologist Anders Tegnell said in a press conference, adding he expected "a difficult COVID-19 situation for a large part of this winter."
"For a while, it was quite similar across the various regions, with all moving more or less downwards. Now it's a bit up and down in different places," Tegnell said.
To slow down the spread of COVID-19, the government wants tighter restrictions on public-transport journeys.
"We propose an amendment to the Restriction Ordinance that anyone who organizes long-distance traffic by bus or train must ensure that the number of passengers does not at any time exceed half of the vehicle's seats for journeys exceeding 150 km," said Minister for Infrastructure Tomas Eneroth.
The government plans to put the new rules in place from Feb. 14 until the end of May.
The country has recorded 596,174 COVID-19 cases and 12,188 deaths by Tuesday.