One European country is going against the norm and allowing people to conduct their daily lives in public instead of staying at home to help curb the spread of the coronavirus.

The strategy, President Donald Trump said this week, is called "the herd."

"Sweden's suffering very, very badly," Trump said, CNN reported.

Sweden's leaders, however, denied they are taking "the herd" approach, which would involve people infecting each other in an effort to build a mass immunity to the COVID-19 virus.

Swedish Foreign Minister Ann Linde said this week that Trump's characterization of the country's tactic was "factually wrong. … No lockdown [is in place] and we rely very much on people taking responsibility themselves."

State Epidemiologist of the Public Health Agency of Sweden Anders Tegnell told a CNN affiliate, "I think Sweden is doing OK. It's producing quality results the same way it's always done. So far Swedish healthcare is handling this pandemic in a fantastic way."

In Sweden, stories, bars and restaurants, and some schools remain open. The government has encouraged people to wash their hands more and stay home if they are feeling sick. The recommendations have resulted in fewer people going out, but there are no government-ordered lockdowns or stay-at-home orders — a stark contrast to how the United States and other countries are dealing the deadly disease that, as of Friday morning, had infected more than 1.6 million people worldwide and killed almost 100,000.

In Sweden, according to Johns Hopkins University, around 9,600 people have contracted the virus and almost 900 have died.

Not everyone is on board with Sweden's handling of the pandemic. Nele Brusselaers, an associate professor of clinical epidemiology at Sweden's Karolinska Institute, questioned the approach.

"Herd immunity doesn't make sense because we don't know whether or not you can become immune," Brusselaers said, according to Time. "This is a virus that can kill anybody."

The Guardian reported that one-third of the country's nursing homes have COVID-19 infections.

• Off to the Cafe: Sweden Is Outlier in Virus Restrictions
• Climate Activist Thunberg Says She's Recovered From Virus