The WHO on Thursday said several countries and territories were seeing a rise in infections. Eleven were in the UN agency's Europe region.
Dr Tegnell told Swedish TV it was a "total misinterpretation of the data".
Sweden had seen a rise in cases, he argued, because it was testing more.
But the WHO said the proportion of those testing positive for coronavirus remained "at about 12-13%" despite increased testing.
This and other data indicates "that Sweden is still faced with community transmission", a spokesperson told the BBC.
