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Half of Stockholm trains canceled due to staff shortages
Published: Jan 29, 2022 12:02 PM
A man wearing a face mask waits for a train in the central train station during the COVID-19 pandemic in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, on Nov. 3, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)

A man wearing a face mask waits for a train in the central train station during the COVID-19 pandemic in Stockholm, capital of Sweden, on Nov. 3, 2020.(Photo: Xinhua)


 
A passenger wearing a face mask gets off a subway train in Stockholm, Sweden, on Feb. 10, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

A passenger wearing a face mask gets off a subway train in Stockholm, Sweden, on Feb. 10, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)


 
A blue sign reminding people to keep a distance is seen in a subway train in Stockholm, Sweden, on Feb. 10, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)

A blue sign reminding people to keep a distance is seen in a subway train in Stockholm, Sweden, on Feb. 10, 2021.(Photo: Xinhua)


 
Half of all trains scheduled to travel to and via Stockholm, the Swedish capital, this weekend have been canceled due to severe staff shortages.

"The Swedish Transport Administration has never before had to cancel so many departures due to illness within the staff groups, despite two years of a pandemic," said Bengt Olsson, press officer of the organization in a press release on Friday.

The cancellations affect all trains: long-distance lines, commuter lines and freight trains at least until early on Sunday.

As Stockholm is an important hub for train traffic, the cancellations will also affect destinations north as well as south of the city.

Olsson did not elaborate on the nature of the many sick leaves, but the Omicron variant is wreaking havoc in the country, affecting critical services whose staff are off sick or in quarantine due to a household member being infected.

To keep services running, the government last week announced new rules, including a quarantine exemption for unvaccinated individuals with key functions specified by the Civil Contingencies Agency.

The cumulative number of confirmed infections among Sweden's population of 10.4 million surpassed 2 million on Thursday. Meanwhile, a lack of testing capacity means not all cases have been detected and the Public Health Agency has said that the real number of new weekly infections is currently around half a million.

Despite the escalating spread of COVID-19, authorities on Wednesday said most restrictions may be lifted on Feb. 9 as they expect the number of new infections to drop dramatically then.