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On Monday, the government announced that the national measures will largely continue, but will return to the yellow level of measures in secondary and upper secondary schools, in addition to removing the recommendation not to receive visitors. Now Prime Minister Erna Solberg reveals what her biggest fears are going forward.
– What I fear most is that the mutated virus will flow freely in Norwegian society. This is because many countries say it is the hardest thing they have ever faced. Therefore, it is important with measures that include testing at the border and quarantine. Quarantine is the most important, and perhaps the most effective measure against importing the mutated virus into Norway, Solberg tells Dagbladet.
Mutated virus variants
Health Director Bjørn Guldvog and Director Camilla Stoltenberg of the National Institute of Public Health also point to variants of the mutated virus as what they fear most in the future.
– One of the great concerns we have is the new mutations of the virus, which we know in part, but we also see coming in new variants in new countries constantly distant. And in some countries we have already seen a very rapid and extensive increase in infection due to these variants, for example in England and Ireland, Stoltenberg tells Dagbladet.
In a risk assessment, the National Institute of Public Health has accounted for both the British and South African variants of the virus. Both variants are said to be significantly more contagious than the viruses that have mainly circulated in Norwegian society so far, and the National Institute of Public Health concludes that there is a high probability that these variants will spread in Norway and that this will have significant consequences. .
Decrease infection
At the same time, we have seen a decrease in infection pressure in Norway in the last week. After more infection cases were recorded in Norway than ever in week 1, the infection curve flattened and started to point downward, which may indicate that the measures that were implemented in the new year have taken effect.
Guldvog gives Dagbladet the answer on when Norway can begin to reopen.
– We can do this when we see that the infection remains at a low level and when we have vaccinated enough people. The exact time is very difficult to tell. It’s pretty sure that once we’ve vaccinated everyone in the nursing homes, we can start with a kind of reopening there. That is, it may be possible to visit the elderly and the most fragile in nursing homes, the health director tells Dagbladet and continues:
– But when we can start opening together, it depends on how good these vaccines are at preventing the spread of infection, and we don’t have enough documentation of that yet. If we open too early, we can, even if we have vaccinated those at the highest risk of dying, contract a violent spread of the infection among everyone else. Among the normal population, there are also several people who can contract serious diseases, need hospitalization and, in the worst case, die.
Reopening
Health Minister Bent Høie points out that the government already announced on Monday some relief among the national measures.
– It is the case that today is a cautious opening for children and young people, which is the most important thing for the government, there is also some opening for visits, even if the number of contacts must be kept low. However, it remains true that we now have too high an infection in Norway, and we must reduce it significantly before we can have significant changes in national measures, Høie tells Dagbladet.
– How long does it take?
– It depends on the development. We do not know. We know that we can reduce the infection quite quickly, but we also know that it can increase quite quickly. This means that we have to live with that unpredictability for a while because we don’t want to have tighter measures than necessary, but then we also want to stay in control, and that means that we can still experience that we have to open and close again in the future.
Travel abroad
Prime Minister Solberg cannot rule out that it may be relevant for Norwegians to travel abroad already this summer.
– I think Norway is a good holiday country, but I don’t want to say that it won’t be possible to travel abroad until the summer. If we have vaccinated the entire adult population in Norway during that period, plus other countries in Europe have done the same, then there will probably be several places you can travel to, Solberg says, continuing:
– But there will also be many places that you will not be able to travel, and that still have contagion rates that make it impossible to travel there. At least you have to have good cancellation insurance, because these days it is impossible to bet on anything. This virus is difficult to handle.
