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The government will maintain the national crown measures until the second half of January.
– In the future, municipalities must prepare vaccines. We cannot carry them more than necessary, says Health Minister Bent Høie during Tuesday’s press conference.
The Norwegian Health Directorate, among other things, bought 11.4 million syringes and 14 million syringe tips, which will start shipping on Tuesday. The distribution of vaccine equipment begins in the north of the country and the supplier works towards the south in the next two weeks. Before the new year, all municipalities will receive enough equipment so that they can start vaccination as soon as the first vaccines arrive.
In addition to the syringes and syringe tips, alcohol wipes to disinfect the skin, cotton swabs, plasters, and trash cans are shipped to the tips of used syringes.
According to NRK, the first corona vaccine can be accepted for use in the EU and Norway a week earlier than planned. Thus, the first vaccination can be carried out already on Christmas Eve.
Discovered “new variant” of the coronavirus
Change the quarantine rules
Justice Minister Monica Mæland says there has been a strong focus on limiting entry-level streaming.
– We have to continue the quarantine agreement also in the run-up to Christmas, but this weekend we made some changes to the regulations, he says during Tuesday’s press conference.
The changes do not apply to who will be quarantined, but to where the quarantine will take place after entry. People who have their home in Norway can spend the quarantine time at home. Spouses living in separate countries can also be quarantined at the home of the Norwegian resident.
– It’s important to follow the rules and avoid close contact with people you don’t live with, says Mæland.
– Still unstable
Høie says the measures are now starting to work, but notes that the decline has recently stopped.
– The situation is still unstable and can change rapidly. At Christmas, some return home from abroad or from other municipalities. Others celebrate Christmas abroad and then return to Norway. This increases the risk of a new wave of infection, Høie says.
Recently, according to the Health Minister, there have been stories of people not testing themselves to avoid celebrating Christmas alone, or of employers cheating with airline tickets to avoid quarantine. Controls have been increased because of this, and more workplaces should be prepared to be visited by the Norwegian Labor Inspection Authority in the future.
– We must prevent the infection from increasing again and everyone should, as far as possible, stay home in the coming weeks, says Høie, emphasizing the rule of ten-day entry quarantine.
– No noticeable decline
FHI department director Line Wold says infection rates for week 50 so far appear to be roughly the same as week 49. That is, there is no noticeable decrease.
– There is a great variation between municipalities, but also districts. In the age group 20 to 39 years, the infection is highest. In sum, this means that the infection situation means that we cannot shrug our shoulders, says Wold, adding that it is not inconceivable that the infection situation will increase after Christmas.
New mutation
A new virus mutation has been reported in the UK. Wold says that it is also being investigated whether similar mutations can be found in Norway.
– So far we have not seen these virus variants in Norway. We also don’t see that they have an effect on the effect of the vaccine, says Wold.
