I was a chef in the Taj banquet kitchen when the gunshots started that night. Initially, the news was that it was an internal gang war in a neighbourhood nearby and that it would die down soon. It was only at about 10.30 or 11 p.m. that we understood the magnitude of what was going on. We were seven chefs in the kitchen that night, not one of whom left the Taj despite knowing all exit points. By then the shootout had happened at the Wasabi restaurant and all those who had survived were pouring into the banquet hall and kitchen where we were working.

As soon as we had heard about the shootout, we had prepared sandwiches for our surviving guests which we then handed out. After this, we entered the corridor to escort our guests out of the hotel through the back entrance. We had successfully helped a few guests when I saw the left profile of a terrorist in a red cap, who began shooting. I was standing next to a refrigerator, when my head chef and his assistant chef both got shot. There was chaos, panic and fear as our guests started running everywhere - but by then they had opened fire in all directions.

All of a sudden, everything went quiet and that silence was the worst. I tried looking around for survivors, but it was just me. I stayed there for a few hours, until I realized that no help would be coming anytime soon. I looked at the refrigerator where I'd been only a while ago and it had 3 bullet holes in it – I'd narrowly escaped death, but it was horrifying to see that my guests and colleagues hadn't been as lucky. I won't look back on that day as just a terrorist attack, but a day when many brave individuals looked death in the eye to help others.

I was a chef in the Taj banquet kitchen when the gunshots started that night. Initially, the news was that it was an internal gang war in a neighbourhood nearby and that it would die down soon. It was only at about 10.30 or 11 p.m. that we understood the magnitude of what was going on. We were seven chefs in the kitchen that night, not one of whom left the Taj despite knowing all exit points. By then the shootout had happened at the Wasabi restaurant and all those who had survived were pouring into the banquet hall and kitchen where we were working.

As soon as we had heard about the shootout, we had prepared sandwiches for our surviving guests which we then handed out. After this, we entered the corridor to escort our guests out of the hotel through the back entrance. We had successfully helped a few guests when I saw the left profile of a terrorist in a red cap, who began shooting. I was standing next to a refrigerator, when my head chef and his assistant chef both got shot. There was chaos, panic and fear as our guests started running everywhere - but by then they had opened fire in all directions.

All of a sudden, everything went quiet and that silence was the worst. I tried looking around for survivors, but it was just me. I stayed there for a few hours, until I realized that no help would be coming anytime soon. I looked at the refrigerator where I'd been only a while ago and it had 3 bullet holes in it – I'd narrowly escaped death, but it was horrifying to see that my guests and colleagues hadn't been as lucky. I won't look back on that day as just a terrorist attack, but a day when many brave individuals looked death in the eye to help others.

I was a chef in the Taj banquet kitchen when the gunshots started that night. Initially, the news was that it was an internal gang war in a neighbourhood nearby and that it would die down soon. It was only at about 10.30 or 11 p.m. that we understood the magnitude of what was going on. We were seven chefs in the kitchen that night, not one of whom left the Taj despite knowing all exit points. By then the shootout had happened at the Wasabi restaurant and all those who had survived were pouring into the banquet hall and kitchen where we were working.

As soon as we had heard about the shootout, we had prepared sandwiches for our surviving guests which we then handed out. After this, we entered the corridor to escort our guests out of the hotel through the back entrance. We had successfully helped a few guests when I saw the left profile of a terrorist in a red cap, who began shooting. I was standing next to a refrigerator, when my head chef and his assistant chef both got shot. There was chaos, panic and fear as our guests started running everywhere - but by then they had opened fire in all directions.

All of a sudden, everything went quiet and that silence was the worst. I tried looking around for survivors, but it was just me. I stayed there for a few hours, until I realized that no help would be coming anytime soon. I looked at the refrigerator where I'd been only a while ago and it had 3 bullet holes in it – I'd narrowly escaped death, but it was horrifying to see that my guests and colleagues hadn't been as lucky. I won't look back on that day as just a terrorist attack, but a day when many brave individuals looked death in the eye to help others.

I was a chef in the Taj banquet kitchen when the gunshots started that night. Initially, the news was that it was an internal gang war in a neighbourhood nearby and that it would die down soon. It was only at about 10.30 or 11 p.m. that we understood the magnitude of what was going on. We were seven chefs in the kitchen that night, not one of whom left the Taj despite knowing all exit points. By then the shootout had happened at the Wasabi restaurant and all those who had survived were pouring into the banquet hall and kitchen where we were working.

As soon as we had heard about the shootout, we had prepared sandwiches for our surviving guests which we then handed out. After this, we entered the corridor to escort our guests out of the hotel through the back entrance. We had successfully helped a few guests when I saw the left profile of a terrorist in a red cap, who began shooting. I was standing next to a refrigerator, when my head chef and his assistant chef both got shot. There was chaos, panic and fear as our guests started running everywhere - but by then they had opened fire in all directions.

All of a sudden, everything went quiet and that silence was the worst. I tried looking around for survivors, but it was just me. I stayed there for a few hours, until I realized that no help would be coming anytime soon. I looked at the refrigerator where I'd been only a while ago and it had 3 bullet holes in it – I'd narrowly escaped death, but it was horrifying to see that my guests and colleagues hadn't been as lucky. I won't look back on that day as just a terrorist attack, but a day when many brave individuals looked death in the eye to help others.

I was a chef in the Taj banquet kitchen when the gunshots started that night. Initially, the news was that it was an internal gang war in a neighbourhood nearby and that it would die down soon. It was only at about 10.30 or 11 p.m. that we understood the magnitude of what was going on. We were seven chefs in the kitchen that night, not one of whom left the Taj despite knowing all exit points. By then the shootout had happened at the Wasabi restaurant and all those who had survived were pouring into the banquet hall and kitchen where we were working.

As soon as we had heard about the shootout, we had prepared sandwiches for our surviving guests which we then handed out. After this, we entered the corridor to escort our guests out of the hotel through the back entrance. We had successfully helped a few guests when I saw the left profile of a terrorist in a red cap, who began shooting. I was standing next to a refrigerator, when my head chef and his assistant chef both got shot. There was chaos, panic and fear as our guests started running everywhere - but by then they had opened fire in all directions.

All of a sudden, everything went quiet and that silence was the worst. I tried looking around for survivors, but it was just me. I stayed there for a few hours, until I realized that no help would be coming anytime soon. I looked at the refrigerator where I'd been only a while ago and it had 3 bullet holes in it – I'd narrowly escaped death, but it was horrifying to see that my guests and colleagues hadn't been as lucky. I won't look back on that day as just a terrorist attack, but a day when many brave individuals looked death in the eye to help others.

Unlike its Nordic neighbors. Sweden decided early on in the pandemic to forgo lockdown in the hope of achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus. While social distancing was promoted, the government allowed bars, restaurants, salons, gyms and schools to stay open. Initially, Sweden saw death rates from Covid-19 that were similar to other European nations that had closed down their economies. But now, the Scandinavian nation's daily death toll per 1 million people is 8.71 compared to the United States' 4.59. according to online publication 'Our World in Data". Sweden's mortality rate is the highest in Europe. "I'd say it hasn't worked out so well." said Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology at the University of California. San Francisco. "I think the mortality in Norway is something like ten-fold lower. That's the real comparator." (Norway's daily death rate is less than .01 per 1 million people.)

"If you let this go or don't try very hard or go about it in somewhat of a more restrained way rather than we have here, this is the price you pay," Rutherford said. "Maybe it didn't hurt businesses, but you have twice the mortality rate of the United States. All those people who died were part of families and they were citizens and part of the fabric of Swedish society. And now they're gone because of a policy that hasn't worked out quite the way they thought it would."

Scientists estimate herd immunity for the coronavirus is reached when 70-90% of the population becomes immune to a virus, either by becoming infected or getting a protective vaccine.

Despite its relaxed response, Sweden is nowhere near to hitting that goal. Tests on 1,118 Stockholm residents carried out by Sweden's Public Health Agency over one week in late April showed that only 7.3% had developed the antibodies needed to stave off the disease. "I think herd immunity is a long way off, if we ever reach it," Bjorn Olsen, a professor of infectious medicine at Uppsala University, told Reuters after the release of the antibody findings.

Rutherford said we can keep doing non-pharmaceutical interventions like contact tracing, mask wearing and isolation quarantines, but also develop drugs that work better treating people who already have the infection so they don't require critical care in a hospital.

Unlike its Nordic neighbors. Sweden decided early on in the pandemic to forgo lockdown in the hope of achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus. While social distancing was promoted, the government allowed bars, restaurants, salons, gyms and schools to stay open. Initially, Sweden saw death rates from Covid-19 that were similar to other European nations that had closed down their economies. But now, the Scandinavian nation's daily death toll per 1 million people is 8.71 compared to the United States' 4.59. according to online publication 'Our World in Data". Sweden's mortality rate is the highest in Europe. "I'd say it hasn't worked out so well." said Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology at the University of California. San Francisco. "I think the mortality in Norway is something like ten-fold lower. That's the real comparator." (Norway's daily death rate is less than .01 per 1 million people.)

"If you let this go or don't try very hard or go about it in somewhat of a more restrained way rather than we have here, this is the price you pay," Rutherford said. "Maybe it didn't hurt businesses, but you have twice the mortality rate of the United States. All those people who died were part of families and they were citizens and part of the fabric of Swedish society. And now they're gone because of a policy that hasn't worked out quite the way they thought it would."

Scientists estimate herd immunity for the coronavirus is reached when 70-90% of the population becomes immune to a virus, either by becoming infected or getting a protective vaccine.

Despite its relaxed response, Sweden is nowhere near to hitting that goal. Tests on 1,118 Stockholm residents carried out by Sweden's Public Health Agency over one week in late April showed that only 7.3% had developed the antibodies needed to stave off the disease. "I think herd immunity is a long way off, if we ever reach it," Bjorn Olsen, a professor of infectious medicine at Uppsala University, told Reuters after the release of the antibody findings.

Rutherford said we can keep doing non-pharmaceutical interventions like contact tracing, mask wearing and isolation quarantines, but also develop drugs that work better treating people who already have the infection so they don't require critical care in a hospital.

Unlike its Nordic neighbors. Sweden decided early on in the pandemic to forgo lockdown in the hope of achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus. While social distancing was promoted, the government allowed bars, restaurants, salons, gyms and schools to stay open. Initially, Sweden saw death rates from Covid-19 that were similar to other European nations that had closed down their economies. But now, the Scandinavian nation's daily death toll per 1 million people is 8.71 compared to the United States' 4.59. according to online publication 'Our World in Data". Sweden's mortality rate is the highest in Europe. "I'd say it hasn't worked out so well." said Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology at the University of California. San Francisco. "I think the mortality in Norway is something like ten-fold lower. That's the real comparator." (Norway's daily death rate is less than .01 per 1 million people.)

"If you let this go or don't try very hard or go about it in somewhat of a more restrained way rather than we have here, this is the price you pay," Rutherford said. "Maybe it didn't hurt businesses, but you have twice the mortality rate of the United States. All those people who died were part of families and they were citizens and part of the fabric of Swedish society. And now they're gone because of a policy that hasn't worked out quite the way they thought it would."

Scientists estimate herd immunity for the coronavirus is reached when 70-90% of the population becomes immune to a virus, either by becoming infected or getting a protective vaccine.

Despite its relaxed response, Sweden is nowhere near to hitting that goal. Tests on 1,118 Stockholm residents carried out by Sweden's Public Health Agency over one week in late April showed that only 7.3% had developed the antibodies needed to stave off the disease. "I think herd immunity is a long way off, if we ever reach it," Bjorn Olsen, a professor of infectious medicine at Uppsala University, told Reuters after the release of the antibody findings.

Rutherford said we can keep doing non-pharmaceutical interventions like contact tracing, mask wearing and isolation quarantines, but also develop drugs that work better treating people who already have the infection so they don't require critical care in a hospital.

Unlike its Nordic neighbors. Sweden decided early on in the pandemic to forgo lockdown in the hope of achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus. While social distancing was promoted, the government allowed bars, restaurants, salons, gyms and schools to stay open. Initially, Sweden saw death rates from Covid-19 that were similar to other European nations that had closed down their economies. But now, the Scandinavian nation's daily death toll per 1 million people is 8.71 compared to the United States' 4.59. according to online publication 'Our World in Data". Sweden's mortality rate is the highest in Europe. "I'd say it hasn't worked out so well." said Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology at the University of California. San Francisco. "I think the mortality in Norway is something like ten-fold lower. That's the real comparator." (Norway's daily death rate is less than .01 per 1 million people.)

"If you let this go or don't try very hard or go about it in somewhat of a more restrained way rather than we have here, this is the price you pay," Rutherford said. "Maybe it didn't hurt businesses, but you have twice the mortality rate of the United States. All those people who died were part of families and they were citizens and part of the fabric of Swedish society. And now they're gone because of a policy that hasn't worked out quite the way they thought it would."

Scientists estimate herd immunity for the coronavirus is reached when 70-90% of the population becomes immune to a virus, either by becoming infected or getting a protective vaccine.

Despite its relaxed response, Sweden is nowhere near to hitting that goal. Tests on 1,118 Stockholm residents carried out by Sweden's Public Health Agency over one week in late April showed that only 7.3% had developed the antibodies needed to stave off the disease. "I think herd immunity is a long way off, if we ever reach it," Bjorn Olsen, a professor of infectious medicine at Uppsala University, told Reuters after the release of the antibody findings.

Rutherford said we can keep doing non-pharmaceutical interventions like contact tracing, mask wearing and isolation quarantines, but also develop drugs that work better treating people who already have the infection so they don't require critical care in a hospital.

Unlike its Nordic neighbors. Sweden decided early on in the pandemic to forgo lockdown in the hope of achieving broad immunity to the coronavirus. While social distancing was promoted, the government allowed bars, restaurants, salons, gyms and schools to stay open. Initially, Sweden saw death rates from Covid-19 that were similar to other European nations that had closed down their economies. But now, the Scandinavian nation's daily death toll per 1 million people is 8.71 compared to the United States' 4.59. according to online publication 'Our World in Data". Sweden's mortality rate is the highest in Europe. "I'd say it hasn't worked out so well." said Dr. George Rutherford, professor of epidemiology at the University of California. San Francisco. "I think the mortality in Norway is something like ten-fold lower. That's the real comparator." (Norway's daily death rate is less than .01 per 1 million people.)

"If you let this go or don't try very hard or go about it in somewhat of a more restrained way rather than we have here, this is the price you pay," Rutherford said. "Maybe it didn't hurt businesses, but you have twice the mortality rate of the United States. All those people who died were part of families and they were citizens and part of the fabric of Swedish society. And now they're gone because of a policy that hasn't worked out quite the way they thought it would."

Scientists estimate herd immunity for the coronavirus is reached when 70-90% of the population becomes immune to a virus, either by becoming infected or getting a protective vaccine.

Despite its relaxed response, Sweden is nowhere near to hitting that goal. Tests on 1,118 Stockholm residents carried out by Sweden's Public Health Agency over one week in late April showed that only 7.3% had developed the antibodies needed to stave off the disease. "I think herd immunity is a long way off, if we ever reach it," Bjorn Olsen, a professor of infectious medicine at Uppsala University, told Reuters after the release of the antibody findings.

Rutherford said we can keep doing non-pharmaceutical interventions like contact tracing, mask wearing and isolation quarantines, but also develop drugs that work better treating people who already have the infection so they don't require critical care in a hospital.