The following precautions should be taken by all employees to help reduce the spread of the virus:

• Society is taking major precautions and there is concern among many people. In choosing and interpreting our guidelines, therefore, it is always better to be safe than sorry. Always contact the health service if you are in any doubt.
• If you experience cold or flu symptoms or you suspect that you are at risk of having been infected by coronavirus, stay at home. Contact the health service and follow the instructions issued by them and the relevant authorities.
• Your manager is not medically trained and cannot give advice or make decisions about the spread of infection and symptoms. That is the job of the health service. Contact the health service and follow the instructions issued by them and the relevant authorities.
• Take extra care with your hygiene.
  • Wash your hands! Wash your hands often, using soap and hot water, before meals, before handling food and after visiting the toilet. Hand sanitiser can be used as an alternative if you are not able to wash your hands.
  • Don’t touch your face! A general preventive measure against respiratory infections is to avoid touching your face or eyes and to avoid close contact with people who are unwell.
  • Cough and sneeze into your sleeve! By coughing and sneezing into your sleeve or a tissue, you prevent infection from spreading to your surroundings and from contaminating your hands.
• Avoid physical contact when greeting people.
• Special and local instructions will be issued by local management, for shift changes for example.
• You are encouraged to work from home if your duties allow. Your manager will decide this.
• Use web-based or telephone meetings. You should only hold physical meetings and go on trips if the matter is business critical. A specific example of this is that the diagnoses planned for April are being postponed. Discuss this with your manager.
• Travel to certain regions and places is prohibited. The situation is changing all the time. Before travelling, find out what the situation is in the relevant destination and follow the recommendations of your country’s authorities and the local authorities in your destination. Up-to-date information by country can be found at e.g. https://www.swedenabroad.se/. It is also possible to contact the embassy of the country you intend to travel to.
• Visitors are only permitted to come to our factories/offices if the matter is business critical. Discuss this with your manager.
• If you are responsible for a meeting at one of our units, offices or an external meeting place, it is your responsibility to inform participants that they are not permitted to take part if they are exhibiting cold or flu symptoms, if they suspect they may have been infected by coronavirus or they have visited a region or place linked to coronavirus within the past three weeks. If, despite this, any such participant still comes to the meeting, they must be kindly but firmly prevented from participating.

Your local management may provide additional guidelines and instructions. These must be followed.

The company strongly recommends that you and your family follow our guidelines and precautions outside of work.

General information about coronavirus

Facts only from the Public Health Agency’s website (www.folkhalsomyndigheten.se) or from eWorx (which presents facts from various official sites).

COVID-19 (the illness caused by the new coronavirus) is classified as a disease hazardous to society and is subject to reporting and infection tracking requirements.

This means that under the Communicable Diseases Act, you have a duty to take reasonable precautions to help prevent the disease spreading.

If you suspect that you are carrying the infection, you have an obligation to inform others who may have been infected, as well as the health service. Call 1177 (in Sweden).

Most people do not become seriously ill, but more severe symptoms have been reported in a number of cases, as well as some deaths.

A report from a study in China shows that older people and in particular those with cardiovascular disease, diabetes, chronic lung disease and high blood pressure are over-represented among the severe cases. The study also shows, however, that only a very small percentage of these groups suffer severe infection.

The symptoms of COVID-19 are:

• Respiratory symptoms (difficulty breathing)
• Fever
• Cough

The incubation period (i.e. the time between catching the virus and beginning to have symptoms of the disease) is 2–14 days.

The facts available show that the virus is transmitted when the patient is ill and with the onset of symptoms.

Current knowledge and experience shows that people do not infect others during the incubation period. However, those who have been exposed to infection should remain alert for early signs of the illness.

The infection is spread through close contact between people. There is currently no evidence of infection through objects. It is not yet fully understood how long the virus can survive outside the body, but preliminary information indicates that it survives for a limited time and only under specific conditions.