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By week 44, 47 percent of hospitalized patients were born abroad, and by the following week the proportion had risen by seven percent to 54.
In addition to being over-represented among those hospitalized, people born outside of Norway are also over-represented in infection statistics. This is despite the fact that this group only represents 15 percent of Norway’s population.
Among the 45 week cases who were born outside of Norway, the majority of people have Pakistan as their country of birth, writes FHI. According to FHI, this group represented 21 of the patients at week 45.
The department head, FHI’s Line Vold, tells Dagbladet that additional effort is now needed targeting these groups.
– This is a large heterogeneous group and it is not a fact that the same explanation exists. But this is a reminder that extra effort is needed here, so this is an important field to work on, he says.
Dramatic change
Ask for help
Based on the contagion figures, the government held a meeting last week with minority associations and organizations targeting immigrants.
The purpose was to ask for help to better arrive with messages about corona infection, diseases and measures to stop the spread of the pandemic.
Director Frode Forland of the National Institute of Public Health told Politisk kvarter in NRK on Friday that foreign-born people account for 39 percent of those infected in Norway in the past four weeks. For the pandemic as a whole, the group represents 34 percent.
– We also see that they are over-represented among those who have lost their lives in the pandemic, says Forland.
He says that there are currently no good statistics on whether the people this applies to are primarily business travelers or people living in Norway.
– But we know that many of those affected are from Poland and Norway with shorter work assignments. There are also many Pakistanis living here who may have been on vacation in their home country.
– that is not right
Need research
At the moment, it is also uncertain what makes this group so affected. More research is needed in that field.
Forland cites illness as an example of a possible reason why some in this population group become seriously ill.
– We know that, for example, diabetes is over-represented among the Pakistani part of the population. But it can also be due to social conditions, that is, how they live together, where they live and what kinds of professions they have, he says, and is based on the fact that many of immigrant backgrounds work in the service industry and for example, as a taxi driver.
The latter ranks high on the FHI overview list of occupational groups with more infection than others.
37% of the cases of infection recorded in week 45 concerned people born outside of Norway. Most of them were born in Poland (236), followed closely by Somalia (199). Also on the FHI list are Pakistan (94), Iraq (56), Eritrea (49), Afghanistan (47), Sweden (36), Lithuania (33), Congo (29), Syria (28), Turkey (27 ), and Iran (25).
Information on the country of birth is currently lacking for 261 cases reported in week 45.
