It’s the tone of the coverage that’s so grating. It’s as if commentators WANT Sweden to fail so as not to have to admit that their own sacrifices may have been unnecessary. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2020/04/25/sweden-succeeds-lockdownswill-have-nothing/

The point is perhaps inadvertently proved by those whose immediate response is “Yeah but population density!” Most Swedes live in towns: 85% of the population occupies 15% of the space. Stockholm is, on some measures, more densely populated than London. https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2018/mar/22/most-densely-populated-square-kilometres-europe-mapped