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Ready to take infection control measures that can last another eight months and a possible third wave of infection? The Minister of Health does not dare to rule out anything.
KONGENS GATE 18, OSLO (Nettavisen): – The risk exists if we fail to reduce the infection with the measures we are now implementing, Health Minister Bent Høie (H) responds to Nettavisen’s question about a possible third wave of infection in Norway.
– In Iceland, they themselves say that they are now in a third wave of infection. Of course, it can happen here too, says Høie.
There is also talk in the United States of a third wave of the pandemic, with an increasingly explosive increase in infected since September.
The Health Minister says there is no doubt that Norway is now in its second wave of infection, nine months after the first COVID-19 cases were recorded in February and eight months after an extensive shutdown. The message at the press conference on the status of the crown on Friday was that it is now about persevering, respecting the infection control measures that are in place now and following the advice.
Record high infection rates
Weeks 43 and 45 showed record infection rates, 3,140 new infections in week 43 and 4,043 new in week 45. Preliminary figures show that this week will show another record.
Because so many more are being tested now than this spring, the numbers are not directly comparable, but even now the National Institute of Public Health says they are dark numbers. The much-discussed R number, which indicates how many people a COVID-19 patient infects on average, is supposed to be 1.4.
140 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants
- In Norway, there have been 140 new cases of infection and 0.2 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days.
- For the other Nordic countries, the figures per 100,000 inhabitants are 485 infected and 1.3 dead in Sweden, 257 infected and 0.7 dead in Denmark, 54 infected and 0.2 dead in Finland and 124 infected and 3.6 dead in Iceland.
- So far, 52,775,271 people have been diagnosed with infections worldwide. 1,293,106 people have died so far in the pandemic.
Source: NTB, European Infectious Disease Control Office (ECDC)
Increase in the number of admissions
High infection rates have a domino effect with increasing numbers of hospital admissions after a three-week period, and this increase was already visible in November. For seven days in a row, the number of corona patients in Norwegian hospitals has exceeded 100. On Friday, the number was 109, one less than on Thursday. The number of patients with a crown on a ventilator is 13.
It is the Helse Sør-Øst hospitals that have the most crown patients. 90 of them are admitted there. Twelve are admitted to the West health region, six to Health Central Norway and one to Health North, NTB reported Friday.
On Thursday, a corona-infected patient died at Akershus University Hospital, the 21st coronary disease-related death there. Official figures for crown-related deaths in Norway are 294 on Friday.
Also read: Erna Solberg concerned with a clear message: – You have to be careful
– Danger of accelerated rise
Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) mentioned at Friday’s press conference that the situation is dire.
– The situation is still uncertain, with the risk of acceleration of increases. Therefore, strong measures are needed in areas where there is a lot of infection, he stressed.
The Prime Minister made a special appeal to young people:
– The infection increases more in the age group 13 to 19 years. That worries me. Those of you who are teenagers should also be careful. You should also have as little contact with others as possible, keep your distance, and stay home when you’re sick, he said.
The vaccine, which was expected to be in place before Christmas, is now expected to be in place in the first half of 2021. By P4 on Friday, Deputy Health Director Espen Nakstad stated that 50 percent of the adult population should be vaccinated before things can return to normal.
They can be infection control measures for another eight months.
– Does this mean that we may run the risk of having to live with infection control measures in one form or another until the fall of 2021?
– We will continue to apply infection control measures in parallel with people who take vaccines. It will be like this at first, Høie tells Nettavisen.
He says that infection control measures in one form or another cannot be ruled out until fall 2021.
– But we hope we can introduce gradual relief as the vaccination program begins, says Høie.
Erna Solberg asks people to persevere:
– It has been eight months yesterday since we introduced the most energetic and intrusive measures that we have had in Norway in peacetime. Although we have not had equally strong measures now, we have had measures in one form or another until the end. I beg you to persevere. Together we will manage this, the Prime Minister said when she opened the press conference in the Marble Hall of the Ministry of Climate and Environment at Kongens Gate on Friday.
TABLE: Such are the crown numbers in Europe
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