– Completely wrong – VG

– This is a recommendation that does not fit particularly well with the challenges we have had in Norway recently related to import infection, says Deputy Director of Health Espen Nakstad.

On Wednesday, the European Office for Infectious Disease Control (ECDC) published a new report, in which they recommend stopping routine quarantine and crowning tests of travelers by air within Europe, as the infection situation is now.

The ECDC writes that the coronavirus has become established in all EU and EEA countries and in the UK, that imported infections account for a small proportion of all reported cases of infection and are unlikely to increase the spread of the infection significantly.

– The ECDC is wrong if it claims that the removal of quarantine obligations and routine testing are unlikely to increase the spread of infection to a significant degree, at least in Norway, says Nakstad.

– It has had important consequences

It is clear that the Norwegian Health Directorate will not recommend that the government follow the ECDC recommendations.

– On the contrary, with the new rapid tests, we will be able to combine quarantine and testing in an increasingly precise way, limiting the spread of infection more effectively and, at the same time, making it possible to cross borders for those who do so. need.

Nakstad notes that Norway in October and November has had a series of outbreaks related to business travelers from abroad, who have not been adequately protected from others during the quarantine period.

– It has had important consequences for companies, municipalities and individuals who have become ill or have been quarantined.

– The level of infection in European countries is very different, as the ECDC also describes in its country and region maps.

Here you can see an overview of the EU risk map.

High risk group

According to the report, the number of cases of import infections in week 45 was less than 1% of the total number of cases detected in the eight countries Norway, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Ireland, Italy, Malta and Slovakia.

Nakstad believes the number is highly uncertain and does not say anything about the spread of the infection after traveling to the country.

The ECDC writes that the infection is assumed to be lower among air travelers than the general population and believes that therefore travelers should not be considered a high-risk group, but rather treated like the local population they arrive at. .

– What is the reason you are recommending a quarantine obligation at this time?

– Quarantine is the most important tool we have to prevent the spread of infection from people who have a higher probability of being infected. This mainly applies to close contacts with sick people and people who have lived in other countries with a significantly higher infection pressure than in Norway, Nakstad says.

The department director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Line Vold, says that very few people come to Norway at this time and therefore it is natural that only a small proportion of those who test positive are visitors.

– If the quarantine requirements and restrictions had been removed, we think it is likely that the number of visitors would have increased, and also the number of infected visitors, says Vold.

The greater the difference in infection status for the areas you travel between, the more relevant the measurements at the entrance, he says.

– Quarantine and testing are current measures used by many countries in this pandemic. Norway has low infection rates compared to most countries in Europe. Therefore, our assessment is that it is still appropriate to have testing and quarantine rules for countries with high infection pressure.

– ECDC has previously stated that quarantine and testing may be appropriate for travel from areas with high infection to areas with low infection, and this is also noted in this report. Many areas of Norway have little or no infection.