– Has had many social contacts – VG

Ten of the 844 people tested for the coronavirus in Trondheim this weekend tested positive.

Therefore, the municipality has an increasing trend of infection, according to the VG summary. A total of 464 people tested positive for COVID-19 in Trondheim during the pandemic.

Half of those who tested positive this weekend are NTNU students. Four of those who tested positive on Sunday are close contacts with another student who tested positive the day before.

Reaching out to closer contacts than household members

Tove Røsstad, the municipal chief doctor, says that infection among students in the municipality has been limited in recent weeks.

– We have had many students in quarantine, but if they have been infected it is by people from the same housing association. This time it is not, says Røsstad and elaborates:

– Now the infection has reached close contacts outside of those with whom they live, and there were some who became infected. So that worries us.

Two of the students who were diagnosed with infection on Sunday belong to the study program of the Faculty of Information Technology and Electrical Engineering (IE), while the last two study at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Education (SU) and the Faculty of Humanities (HF), respectively.

– More contagious

It should be noted that the number of infections is not very high. At the same time, it is higher than they are used to and therefore not related to the people with whom the infected person has a closer contact.

– It may appear that the person in question is more contagious than infected that we have previously recorded. The person has also had many social contacts.

– Could it be a super spreader?

– It is difficult to use that word, we still have no basis to say that. But it may appear that the person in question becomes infected more easily than others, says Røsstad.

250 people have been quarantined after the new cases in Trondheim this weekend. Of these, about 150 are students.

Rector: – Going in the wrong direction

NTNU Chancellor Anne Borg will chair a staff meeting on Monday morning.

– I’m worried. Development is going in the wrong direction and now we must do everything possible to prevent the infection from spreading further, he tells VG.

She says that many of the infections may seem to originate from social gatherings in her spare time and not on campus.

– Currently it is not relevant to close all or part of the campus, but we follow the development day by day, says the director.

All five students are in solitary confinement.

– There is still a lot of tracking infections to get an overview of where they have been in the period in which they may have been carriers, says Borg.

This is how the infection spreads

• 376 people were tested on Friday, of which two tested positive. They are both 20 years old and in close contact with a known infection.
• 213 were tested on Saturday. A person in his 20s tested positive and the source of the infection is currently unclear
• On Sunday, 255 people were tested, of whom seven were diagnosed with an infection. Five of them are 20 years old, one is 30 years old and another is 40 years old. These are also close contacts to known infections, according to the municipality.

The outbreak also affects the planning of the International Student Festival in Trondheim (ISFiT). The ISFiT office in Gløshaugen was closed on Sunday and now all volunteers will be screened.

– As we now know, the spread of infection cannot be traced to an ISFiT event, but as a large student organization we take our responsibility seriously and will continue to work with the municipality to prevent further infection, they write in a press release.