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OPTIMISTIC: Minister of Health and Care Bent Høie after the government press conference on Thursday. Photo: Fredrik Hagen
Coronary restrictions are now eased in turn, but the Minister of Health and Care, Bent Høie, does not rule out the introduction of far-reaching measures.
On Thursday, Høie along with the rest of the government presented the plan for a gradual reopening of Norwegian society.
In retrospect, the government presented the strategy for handling covid-19. There they write:
“We need to be prepared to adjust the measures to maintain control.”
– What is needed for this opening to stop or to reintroduce measures?
– If the infection rate is higher than one, we can get a sharp curve, as long as it is below one, we are going down, so this is a very important factor, explains Høie to VG.
The reproduction figure on Friday was 0.55.
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– If the number of infections goes beyond one, would you like to restart the intervention?
– We hope that we discover further spread of the infection locally. Then it will be appropriate to introduce measures at the local level. So, the toolbox is not so different from the one we have used, but we have the opportunity to be more specific.
– Will new national measures be excluded?
– No, nothing is ruled out. If we do not detect the spread locally and it becomes national, then we are ready to take national action, ”responds Høie.
The Director of the Department of the Institute of Public Health (FHI), Line Vold, tells VG that these are scenarios that they are also working on.
– We now have a process in which we move forward and create a more granular plan for the professional base of measures that are relevant to implement when, Vold explains.
He also notes that local conditions will play a role in this plan.
They think they have control over the virus.
But both Høie and Vold believe that Norway is now well equipped to keep the epidemic under control, and that general measures such as distance, hand hygiene, and staying home when sick should be enough to keep the spread of infection and thus avoid a wave two.
– There are general measures that will last the entire period. We use testing, tracking and monitoring as an effective measure, so we must also be prepared for more comprehensive measures, “says Høie.
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He previously warned that some of the milder guidelines are something we have to live with for up to two years.
– The only thing that makes this virus not a threat to public health is that we have a vaccine or a treatment that will significantly reduce the proportion of seriously ill people, or a completely new knowledge that we do not know today, health concludes – and the Attention Minister.
