These graphs show how the total number of deaths have increased in different countries so that we can get a better picture of how the virus is spreading in Sweden compared to other countries, i.e. whether the curve in Sweden is flatter or steeper than other countries. The curves begin on the day that a country had 8 deaths, which is a number that is somewhat arbitrary chosen but makes sure that the growth rate has started to stabilize. The reason that we choose to show deaths instead of cases is that different countries have very different testing strategies, which means that the number of cases might differ dramatically simply because some country is testing a lot.
The reason that we don't show a per capita graph by default is that the early stage of a virus spreading is expected to look the same regardless of population size. We do however include a per capita (or deaths per million inhabitants) graph in another tab as it might still be interesting to see how bad the situation is in a country in terms of death per capita. This curve starts when the country had 1 death / 1 million inhabitants.
The third graph shows new deaths per day, as a 7 day average, and can be used to evaluate whether or not a country has reached the peak. The fourth graph shows the 7 day average but also per 1 million inhabitants.
Comparing country vs country will not provide us with a complete picture as it is common that specific regions have a high number of cases while others might be doing just fine. This section shows the same kind of graphs as above but for Sweden's regions (the ones that have had at least 8 deaths or 1 death per 1 million inhabitants) instead of countries. You can use these graphs to understand what the current situation is like in your specific region, and remember that there is no real reason to believe that the trend will look different if the actions taken have been the same. Perhaps though, when seeing how the situation in Stockholm has evolved there is still time to flatten the curves of other regions?
To get a better picture of how covid-19 affects society it makes sense to look at the number of deaths per day (all different causes) compared to previous years. There are several things to keep in mind when viewing these graphs. First of all, the number of actual deaths by covid-19 is probably higher than the official number since some people will die without getting tested. Second of all, we might actually see that the number of deaths by some other causes (e.g. the regular flu) will decline because we are better at washing our hands, avoiding contact etc. Third, you might expect that more people die from other causes too in a situation where the health care system is overburdened.
We mainly compare this year with an average of the previous 5 years but also include individual years to get a sense of the variance between years. The charts begin on the day that we had the first registered death from covid-19.
Every day new official numbers are presented by Folkhälsomyndigheten and on the news but often without the proper context. On this site I try to present current data on Covid-19 that is interesting from a Swedish perspective, using charts that provide context and gives us an idea about what the current situation actually looks like.
Please carefully read the introductory text of the charts to better understand what I am trying to show and why. Also, note that several of the charts use a logarithmic scale by default, making an exponential increase look like a straight line. So always keep an eye on the y-axis and switch between the linear / logarithmic view to get a better feel for the data. To better understand exponential growth, have a look at the videos at the bottom of the page.
Sources: Johns Hopkins CSSE, Folkhälsomyndigheten, Svenska intensivvårdsregistret and platz.se