Recorded both Tuesday and Wednesday Record number of corona victims In Norway. The Omikron variant is now thought to dominate Norway, and the National Institutes of Public Health (NIPH) expects higher infection rates in the future.
However, the FHI believes that the Omigron variant accounts for only one-third of all serious illnesses, such as delta.
Assistant Director of Health Espen Rostrup tells Nakstad TV 2 why we still risk entire hospitals and intensive care units.
The risk of infection will increase
Nakstad says the infection rate in recent days indicates that the Omigran variant continues to spread in Norway.
– Then we may have got some artificially high numbers yesterday, because many were waiting to test themselves until the end of Christmas, and many school children had to test themselves, he tells TV2.
– But today’s figures indicate that the epidemic is still on the rise.
High numbers: According to Nuxstad, yesterday’s numbers may have been artificially high because many people were waiting to test themselves until the end of Christmas. Photo: Truls Aagedal / TV 2
The same can be said for health care
As we enter 2022, infection rates will drop slightly by Christmas. But Nakstad believes the increase is not dangerous.
– Looking at the rise towards Christmas, removing Christmas and looking at how it continues after Christmas, it seems to be rising at exactly the same pace. The trend is increasing, but it is not as fast as we have seen in the UK, Denmark and other countries, he says.
– It seems that the number of infections will double in a single week, not in two days as feared before Christmas.
Omikron has been shown to reduce the risk of serious illness, but Nakstad still believes this variation could put great strain on health care.
– The risk of becoming seriously ill and requiring hospital treatment is only one-third of the delta variant, but at the same time it is highly contagious. This means that if you get three times more infections, you actually have the same burden on the health system.
High Infection: Omigron is more contagious than delta, so although the delta virus carries a higher risk of serious illness, it can place a greater burden on the health system. Photo: Ivar Lid Riise / TV 2
– The epidemic is not over
On Wednesday, Kunweik Grotland, an immunologist and vaccine researcher at the University of Oslo, said. N.R.K. The epidemic is affecting the majority. Among other things, he justified the fact that those who are vaccinated have a much lower risk of infection.
Knoxstad would not agree.
– There are two reasons. One, there may be huge waves of epidemics in the future, which pose challenges to the entire community. On an individual level, even fully vaccinated individuals can become seriously ill, although this is very rare. And then with the long-term effects of this, you may lose the sense of smell for months, which is not trivial, although most people do not enjoy it, Nakstad says.
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