The omicron storm continues to spin across Sweden – and this is noticeable at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency, which is currently experiencing extreme pressure.

Last week, applications for sickness benefits increased to 40,000, from 27,000 the week before.

– There is a high level of sick leave in society and for the most part it is covid-19 we are talking about here, says Leif Höök, head of department at the Swedish Social Insurance Agency.

At the same time, applications for carrier allowance hit their highest rating to date. Last week, more than 11,000 cases were received.

– These are completely unique figures. We have not seen the large influx at any time before during the pandemic, says Leif Höök.

The Swedish Public Health Agency’s recommendations

Carrier allowance is paid by the Swedish Social Insurance Agency either to the person who is or may be infected with covid-19 or to the person who lives with a person who is infected and therefore unable to work.

This is where the Public Health Agency’s recommendations on quarantine come into play. If a person has confirmed covid-19, those living in the same household must stay at home for seven days from the day the sick person tested, regardless of whether they have symptoms or not.

At the same time, the wobble is almost twice as high during the second week of the year compared with last year – almost 89,000 applications against about 49,000 last year.

However, it is still far from the record levels when the pandemic swept across Sweden, when over 191,000 parents applied for a vab during a single week.

Money can be delayed

But it is not only omikron that is behind the high numbers, other diseases are also circulating to a greater extent this year compared to last year.

– The usual flu was basically zero last year, and the same with RS virus. They both affect temporary parental benefit to a great extent, says Höök.

The pressure is so high that applicants for the carrier carrier risk risk not receiving their money on time, according to Leif Höök.

– We are looking at alternatives to solve this in the best way. Borrow staff, move staff and so on. But it is a tough situation so we must have more resources to cope with it simply.

Was this predictable or were you taken to bed?

– That it would increase, we understood but not that it would be so much. But we started preparing already last week because we saw that it was a big influx, says Leif Höök.

The spread of infection may reach its peak soon

How the applications will be affected in the future is difficult to predict because it is related to how covid-19 develops. According to the Swedish Public Health Agency’s latest scenario, the spread of infection reaches its peak at the end of January.

The question is whether we still have the worst in front of us? February is usually notorious as “vabruari”.

– If you compare with last year, which also had a high inflow initially, it actually fell during February and March. Now we do not know what is happening but it is very much connected to covid. But if it is the same increase as it usually is in “vabruari”, then it will be tough.