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You don’t have a good Wednesday morning, he says.
– It’s very serious. It shows how necessary it was to introduce measures at the national level and very strict measures in those areas with the highest infection, Høie tells Dagbladet.
Last week, the government presented concrete plans for new national measures, if the spread of the infection does not diminish. On Wednesday at 2 pm, Høie will give a press conference on the status of the infection.
It does not rule out that there are new measures.
– It has not been decided yet, but I cannot rule out that things happen during the day today. It is the infection situation and the assessments we receive from NIPH and the Norwegian Health Directorate that will be decisive for this. It is still early and nobody knows what the day will bring, says the Minister of Health.
We must do this now
Testing and monitoring under pressure
Two days ago, Espen Rostrup Nakstad, deputy health director of the Norwegian Health Directorate, told Dagbladet that the progress of the tests in Oslo is so great that the TISK strategy is approaching the breaking point. Several municipalities in Viken are also putting great pressure on testing and monitoring.
– Is TISK at breaking point in Oslo and Viken?
– We experience that some municipalities have challenges in being able to handle testing and follow-up, due to a combination of increased infection and that many have still had many close contacts. Therefore, the measurements are important and correct. Helps reduce infection. For this reason, I agree with the assessment that the Oslo City Council has made about the school area, because it is an area that contributes when there is so much infection in Oslo, says Høie and continues:
– There is a large burden of testing and monitoring. So, unfortunately, the more contagious variant leads to more hospital admissions and more people become seriously ill. Several hospitals are implementing plans to receive more patients, increasing preparedness and sadly postponing operations.
– Not there now
In February, Høie told the Storting that it will be almost like a war situation in hospitals if we find ourselves in a situation where the government’s emergency plan must be used. It is possible to expand up to 1,200 intensive care places, but Høie noted that these places will then be operated by nurses without specialized training.
– Is such a situation approaching?
-No, we’re not there now. The usual way to handle this is to increase capacity and reduce planned activity. But it remains true that the intensive care provided is of good quality and ordinary. What I described with this term was a situation where the staff and content of intensive care units are approaching the upper limit of how many can be treated. We do everything we can to avoid getting there, responds Høie.
TISK UNDER PRESSURE: Health and Care Services Minister Bent Høie says the main weapon for the spread of infection – testing, tracing, isolation and quarantine – is under pressure in various places. Photo: Berit Roald / NTB
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– The strongest tools
In addition to the national record for infections, the capital also has a new record. There have been 495 new corona infections in Oslo in the last 24 hours.
The number is 128 higher than a day before, when there was also a new peak of infection.
– Yesterday’s infection rates are very high. It shows the seriousness and aggressiveness of the mutated British variant of the virus. The virus spreads much faster than previous virus variants, and with the British variant now accounting for 90 percent of corona-positive tests in Oslo, we still expect very high infection rates this week, says the city councilor. Raymond Johansen to Dagbladet on Wednesday morning.
After a growing trend of infection in the capital for several weeks, he had to further toughen measures in the capital already closed by the crown on Monday night. Among other things, it is now forbidden to have more than two visitors in private homes.
