The Norwegian government is issuing new restrictions, including no more than ten people being allowed to stay in a private home at the same time. Norwegians should also limit their social contacts and bars are not allowed to serve alcohol after midnight.
During the major press conference on Tuesday evening, Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap), Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Ap), Minister of Finance Trygve Slagsvold Vedum (Sp), Camilla Stoltenberg, Director of FHI, and Bjørn Guldvog, Director of the Norwegian Health Authority, will participate.
It is announced that from now on, everyone in Norway should keep at least one meter away from each other – or wear a face mask when that is not possible. The government also wants more people to work from home, have digital meetings and flex their working hours. Norwegian schools must also take measures to reduce the spread of infection.
A midnight curfew in pubs and restaurants is being introduced. Norwegians should also limit their social contacts to less than ten per week – with the exception of leisure activities, school and work.
Last week, peaks were noted in the number of registered COVID-19 cases in Norway, with around 4,000 testing positive over several days.
”"During the previous weekend, we also saw the highest numbers recorded during a weekend, when infection numbers usually go down," says Frode Forland.
High levels that are continuing this week. In the last 24 hours, 4,117 new cases of corona infection have been registered in Norway, which is 1,240 more than the same day a week ago.
The number of people hospitalized with COVID-19 is also increasing. On Tuesday, 320 patients were hospitalized for COVID-19 treatment in Norway. An increase of 25 patients compared to yesterday. 90 of those hospitalized are receiving intensive care.
Healthcare in Norway is increasingly under pressure, says Frode Forland, Director of Infection Control at the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI).
”"Now we have about the same number of people hospitalized as when it was at its peak in March 2020," he previously told TT.
The spread of infection is increasing most among children and young people. This is mainly due to outbreaks of the delta variant.
”"We see the spread of infection mainly in preschool and primary school where the children are unvaccinated and up to twelve years old. They get mildly ill but spread the infection further."”
The death toll is also rising right now, but Frode Forland believes it is too early to link this directly to the increased spread of infection. There is probably a correlation between the number of infected and the number of deaths, but increasing death tolls usually lag behind the spread of infection.
”"Now the number of deaths from Covid-19 is about 40 per week, which is not such a big increase compared to before."”
Although the spread of infection in Norway is mainly driven by the delta variant, more and more people are being infected by the recently discovered omicron variant.
Among other things, 120 people were infected with the coronavirus after a Christmas party in Oslo. 13 of these have so far been confirmed to be omicron. But it is suspected that around half of those infected may be carrying the new variant.
Further suspicion of omicron infection has arisen after another Christmas party in Sør-Odal northeast of Oslo and after a conference that took place at the end of November at Lysebu outside central Oslo.
It is too early to say anything about whether those who have been infected with omicron in Norway have become seriously ill, according to Frode Forland.
”But many have been vaccinated, which is worrying.”
Norway's Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Ap) told NTB on Monday that it is worrying that more and more cases of the omicron variant are being discovered in Norway.
”"We have a wave of delta and also the great uncertainty associated with omicron, when you don't know how it will turn out in terms of severity, contagiousness and how the vaccine will work. The government is taking the safe route before the unsafe, not only with local and regional measures but also measures at the national level," says Frode Forland.
Source: TT
