Anders Tegnell

On 2 April 2020, while the coronavirus pandemic was widespread in most Western countries, of which many had by then imposed quarantine measures, Canadian newspaper The Globe and Mail reported that there were "no lockdowns, no school closures and no ban on going to the pub" in Sweden; This was inaccurate, however, as secondary schools and universities were recommended to physically close and transfer to distance education on 17 March, and on 24 March cafés, restaurants and bars were ordered to allow table service only. Moreover, gatherings of more than 50 people had been banned in Sweden as of 27 March.

On 2 April 2020, Dagens Eko reported that significant spread of the coronavirus had occurred in retirement homes in at least 90 municipalities. Previously, the government and the public health authorities had strongly advised against external visits to retirement homes, with several municipalities outright banning them. A nationwide ban on external visits to retirement homes came into force on 1 April.

On 21 April 2020, Tegnell was interviewed by Marta Paterlini of Nature. During the interview he said that:

On 28 April 2020, Tegnell was interviewed by Kim Hjelmgaard of USA TODAY. During the interview he "denied that herd immunity formed the central thrust of Sweden's containment plan". Tegnell says rather that:

Despite scepticism and criticism from a number of doctors and medical experts, as well as international news media, Sweden has defended its strategy, with Prime Minister Stefan Löfven referring to "common sense" and Tegnell saying that the strategy is rooted in a "long tradition" of respecting "free will", as well as the high level of trust and respect Swedes have for public authorities. According to a survey conducted by Sifo, the population's confidence in the Public Health Agency increased from 65 percent to 74 percent between 9–12 March and 21–25 March. A March 2020 survey, carried out by the same company for TV4, showed more than half (53%) of the Swedish population had trust in Tegnell, a higher number than for any of the current leaders of the Swedish political parties, while 18% said they didn't trust the state epidemiologist. In an April survey, the share who said they trusted Tegnell had increased to 69%, while the number who said they didn't trust their state epidemiologist had fallen to 11%.

In his positions, he had key roles in the Swedish response to the 2009 swine flu pandemic and the COVID-19 pandemic.

Anders Tegnell was elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of War Sciences in 2005. His inaugural lecture was on the effect of pandemics on society.

Tegnell obtained a PhD in Medicine from Linköping University in 2003 and a MSc in Epidemiology from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine in 2004. He worked at the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control (Smittskyddsinstitutet) 2004–2005 and the National Board of Health and Welfare from 2005. As head of the Infectious Disease Control department at the agency, he had a key role in the Swedish large-scale vaccination program in preparation for the H1N1 swine flu pandemic in 2009. From 2010 to 2012 he served as head of the Department for Knowledge-Based Policy. He was department head at the Institute for Communicable Disease Control 2012–2013. Since 2013 he is the State Epidemiologist of Sweden, first at the Institute for Communicable Disease Control, which in 2014 became part of the Public Health Agency of Sweden.

From 1990 to 1993 he worked for the WHO in Laos to create vaccination programs. In an interview with Expressen, he describes his on-site work for the WHO with a Swedish expert team during the 1995 Ebola outbreak in Kikwit, Zaire as a formative experience. From 2002 to 2003 he also worked as a national expert for the European Commission to prepare at the EU level for public health threats such as anthrax, smallpox and other infectious diseases.

Tegnell was born in Uppsala. He became a licensed physician at Lund University in 1985, subsequently interning at the county hospital in Östersund, and later specialised in infectious disease at Linköping University Hospital. In that capacity, in 1990 he treated the first patient in Sweden with a viral hemorrhagic fever, believed to be a case to be either the Ebola or the Marburg virus disease.

Nils Anders Tegnell (born 17 April 1956) is a Swedish physician specialising in Infectious disease and civil servant, and the current state epidemiologist of Sweden. He was employed by the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease between 2004 and 2005, and the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare between 2005 and 2012. He returned to the Institute for Communicable Disease in 2012 as a head of department. He has served as state epidemiologist since 2013, first at the Institute, and later at the Public Health Agency of Sweden after a merger of the Institute for Communicable Diseases and the Swedish National Institute of Public Health.