Vegas Golden Knights goaltender Robin Lehner has let rip at his native Sweden over avoiding coronavirus isolation measures in the wake of a recent spike in the country's death toll, calling those in charge "f*cking idiots."
Lehner was responding to criticism of Sweden's lax policy on the fight against the spread of coronavirus, which includes a lack of basic population lockdown by the state that has in turn resulted in an increased daily death toll rate.
Schools in the Scandinavian country continue to operate, travel has not been restricted and even popular ski resorts remain open to the public, despite Covid-19 hitting some countries in Europe particularly aggressively.
For Lehner, the problem was personal: "What is Sweden doing ??? Fucking idiots! My little sister goes to school and has a sick mother at home who probably has not coped with this disease. Wake up to hell!" the 28-year-old native of Gothenburg tweeted on Thursday.
Sweden has so far recorded a total 5,466 coronavirus cases which has resulted in 282 deaths from the disease. Although that number is far behind Italy, Spain and France, the continent's worst-hit nations, that number has almost doubled from 146 on March 31.
Despite criticism, Sweden’s public health agency director general, Johan Carlson, was quoted recently as saying the country’s approach to coronavirus was "the right one", and that the authorities “remain pretty confident it is the best way to stop the disease from spreading".
Banning gatherings of 50 or more people and advising those over 70 to stay at home are some of the few measures to be taken by the government, but restaurants and shops continue to operate freely.
Prime Minister Stefan Löfven has remained insistent that Sweden is testing its population at a similar level with "comparable countries".
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