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– We now have an R number of 1.3. This means that the infection increases very quickly. If allowed to continue through March and April, it will have dramatic consequences for many people who become seriously ill and have to go to the hospital. Our health service will be seriously overloaded, Høie tells NRK.
He adds that it is very important that Norway now spends the next two months without ending up in this situation.
The new measures now being announced will not necessarily be the same as those introduced when the country was shut down as a result of the first corona outbreak last March.
– We are also analyzing further whether measures can be introduced at regional and local level. Something has happened in the last few weeks. Oslo has taken action, as has Kristiansand. Great work is being done locally. What I have asked the Norwegian Health Directorate is to see if this is enough to bring the R number below 1, says Høie and continues:
– If not, we cannot wait too long with new measures. Not at the local or national level.
Can be normal
Corona infection rose 45 percent last week, while the number of people tested remained stable, the weekly report from the National Institute of Public Health showed on Wednesday.
The infection trend has been on the rise since February 1, and the so-called R figure last week was 1.3, the report shows. The R number tells how many infected people transmit the most.
The government has not given any guidance on the type of measures to be introduced. Therefore, it is up to the professional authorities to make the proposals they deem necessary to achieve the objective of an R number below 1.
– We must manage this together until March and April. If we succeed, May could be the month when we really regress to a more normal everyday life, says the Minister of Health.
Government assessments show that a great effort is needed now, which will hopefully be the last.
– If we leave April with infection control, combined with the important vaccination that has taken place by then, then during May and June we will be in a situation in which daily life has returned a lot to where we were before March of the year last. says Høie.
– Are you not worried that people are so tired of the measures, that they don’t follow them?
– Yes, but our polls show that there is a high level of support for the measures. People are sorry, but I don’t think people want us to give up.
– The mutant virus is about to take over
Since January, there have been stricter rules in this country after the British mutation of the coronavirus was discovered. Høie says that we have had a good effect with these measures.
– They have helped to delay the spread of the most contagious variant in Norway. Quite significant compared to other countries. It will be very important, he says.
– What we see now is that the most contagious variant is about to take over and dominate. So, sadly, those measures are not enough.
The British mutant virus spreads faster. Recently, a study from Denmark also showed that there is an increased risk of being admitted to hospital, if you are infected with the mutated virus.
– This means that if we want to avoid getting into a situation where our health service is overloaded in a rush, then we have to eliminate the infection, says Høie.
