Never before has so many people infected with Corona virus been recorded in one day in Norway and the capital. But Oslo’s chief medical officer stresses very different things from the infection numbers.
A total of 1,772 people tested positive for COVID-19 after a polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test in Oslo last day. It’s a new record in the capital.
– We didn’t have such large numbers for a day. We know that oomicron is more contagious, and we expect high infection rates now, says Oslo’s chief municipal doctor and table coordinator, Mert Skjöldborg Lindbow.
The proportion of those receiving positive samples at testing stations in Oslo is now 29 percent. This percentage has increased steadily since Christmas.
This is because many have already run quick tests at home, and thus are largely pre-selected who comes to the test stations.
Oslo figures follow the national picture: In the past 24 hours, 7,921 cases of corona were recorded in Norway. This is the highest number since the outbreak of the epidemic. This is more than double the average of the past seven days (3781), and the trend is on the rise.
– We’re entering the infection wave of all time, Assistant Director of Health Espen Nakstad tells VG.
Consider other factors
Lindbow, the municipal chief medical officer, remains uninterested in this record. He says people were more concerned about the high infection rates in March 2021, when fewer people were vaccinated.
We are now concerned with monitoring the burden on the emergency room, GP, nursing homes, and hospitals, he says.
He says that the oldest people vaccinated with the third dose are the oldest and those with the most obvious underlying disease are the least affected group.
So we see that vaccines protect.
Last week, the most infected was in the 30-39 age group, and that group continues to have the highest infection rates. But the set 20-29 is on its way up.
– What does log mean?
– We don’t know yet. We know that omikron handles the infection. Some signs indicate that Omicron is milder. If many infected people are vaccinated now, Lindbow says, this infection may not have much to say.
still worried
The good thing is that most people who are fully vaccinated do not become seriously ill. This is what Frod Forland, director of the topic at the National Institute of Public Health, said TV 2.
The risk of serious illness is considered to be 50 to 80 percent lower for the omicron than for the delta variant.
However, health authorities are concerned about the burden on the health care system. Assistant Director of Health Espen Nakstad says: VG that although the risk of serious illness is much lower, the risk of infection is so high that there may still be many admissions in total.
On Tuesday, 304 people infected with corona were transferred to hospitals. There were 21 fewer than the day before. There are also fewer people in the intensive care unit, and fewer people receiving respiratory therapy than the day before.
The professor thinks infection rates go unreported
There are three main reasons for Tuesday’s dismal infection record, according to the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) and the Norwegian Directorate of Health:
- The omikron virus is now the dominant virus in Norway, and it spreads much more easily than the delta virus.
- The backlog of work after Christmas makes the numbers abnormally high. The number of self-tested almost halved in the last two weeks of the year compared to the previous two weeks. Thus, there may have been some undetected infections at Christmas.
- Collective test in many municipalities for students, teachers and kindergarten staff before starting school. It may have revealed more infections, although the numbers aren’t clear yet here.
Professor of Medicine Ann Spurkland at the University of Oslo believes that even the large numbers we see now are very low, and that there is a lot of under-reporting of infections.
– I think the wave is bigger than what we see now, you say NRK.
Sporkland believes that the situation in Norway is comparable to other countries that have experienced a sharp increase in infections. Among other countries, Denmark, where 25,000 infections were recorded on Tuesday. Countries such as the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal have also had record high infection rates recently.
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