The head of the commission, Mats Melin, said the blame for structural shortcomings in the healthcare system could be placed on several authorities and organisations.

“But we still want to say that the government governs the country and that the ultimate responsibility therefore rests with the government and previous governments,” Melin said.

While Swedish authorities reacted to the pandemic by advising people to practise social distancing, most schools, bars and restaurants have been kept open.

Yet, the country of just over 10 million has recorded 341,029 confirmed infections and 7667 virus-related deaths, a death toll much higher than in neighbours Norway, Finland or Denmark.

Despite Sweden having one of the highest per capita COVID-19 death rates in the world, Prime Minister Stefan Lofven’s government and Chief Epidemiologist Anders Tegnell have defended the controversial coronavirus strategy as sustainable in the long-term. They have, however, admitted failures in their efforts to protect the elderly and nursing home residents.

The commission found the country's Nordic neighbours paid more attention to aged citizens’ care during the pandemic.

“In the other Nordic countries ... care for the elderly seems to have been more in focus in the authorities’ early pandemic measures,” the report said.

Sweden's strategy had also been expected to spare the country a resurgence of the disease, but earlier on Tuesday Lofven said health officials had misjudged the impact of the latest wave.

“I think that most people in the profession didn’t see such a wave in front of them, they talked about different clusters,” Lofven told the Swedish Aftonbladet newspaper.

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In the past few weeks the virus has spread quickly among medical staff, pushing the government to back more restrictions, including a nationwide ban on the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants after 10pm.

It has also imposed its tightest virus restrictions to date by banning public gatherings of more than eight people.

Since Friday, the country has registered 20,931 new cases and 153 deaths.

Almost all regional hospitals were now struggling with a shortage of healthcare staff, according to a report on Swedish Radio.

University hospitals across the country, except for Norrland University Hospital, did not have enough employees to look after the sickest COVID-19 patients, the broadcaster said.

Last week, Stockholm's healthcare system almost caved under the pressure of the pandemic as its intensive care capacity hit 99 per cent.

AP, Bloomberg