Norway sees easing of new cases of Covid-19: 'We have not gone back to the start'
The number of new cases of coronavirus in Norway has eased in after an increase in preceding weeks.
Health minister Bent Høie has said that the curve of recent increased infections in Norway had “flattened out”.
Citing figures from the Norwegian Institute for Public Health (NIPH), Høie said at a briefing on Thursday that, despite a 54 percent increase in tests, there was no increase in numbers of new infection in Norway last week (commencing Monday August 10th) compared to the preceding week.
According to data collated by VG, 261 cases were registered across the country between August 15th-21st, compared to 366 cases from August 8th-14th.
“I understand that many people are fed up and lack motivation to begin again [with strict measures to prevent infection spread, ed.],” Høie said.
“Some people think we have gone back to the start and have to do as we did in March: shut the borders and shut ourselves in. But we have not gone back to the start,” he said.
“We now have a better understanding and more control, and take the steps needed to stop outbreaks when they appear,” he added.
Despite the positive development, ten Norwegian municipalities currently have increasing Covid-19 infections.
The municipalities in which new cases are increasing at the time of writing are Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø, Indre Østfold, Sarpsborg, Haugesund, Lillehammer, Frogn and Lindesnes, VG reports.
According to the newspaper, the increases in the majority of these areas are due to clusters around smaller events or gatherings and have in some cases been traced by authorities to individuals who were infected abroad prior to arriving in or returning to Norway. In fewer cases, the source of an outbreak has not been identified.
All of the ten municipalities apart from Oslo have total infection numbers in double or single figures for the past 14 days. Much larger numbers of potential contacts have been placed in home quarantine.
In Oslo, 218 cases of infection were registered in the two weeks up to August 19th. That corresponds to 31.4 cases of infection per 100,000, which is above the limit of 20 cases of infection per 100,000 set by NIPH for its travel recommendations.
Friday saw Oslo’s two-weekly total fall slightly to 203.
A total of 35 new infections were registered in Norway on Friday, bringing the total in the last week to 346.
13 people are currently admitted with Covid-19 to hospitals across the country.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: MAP: Which countries are open for tourism to and from Norway?
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Health minister Bent Høie has said that the curve of recent increased infections in Norway had “flattened out”.
Citing figures from the Norwegian Institute for Public Health (NIPH), Høie said at a briefing on Thursday that, despite a 54 percent increase in tests, there was no increase in numbers of new infection in Norway last week (commencing Monday August 10th) compared to the preceding week.
According to data collated by VG, 261 cases were registered across the country between August 15th-21st, compared to 366 cases from August 8th-14th.
“I understand that many people are fed up and lack motivation to begin again [with strict measures to prevent infection spread, ed.],” Høie said.
“Some people think we have gone back to the start and have to do as we did in March: shut the borders and shut ourselves in. But we have not gone back to the start,” he said.
“We now have a better understanding and more control, and take the steps needed to stop outbreaks when they appear,” he added.
Despite the positive development, ten Norwegian municipalities currently have increasing Covid-19 infections.
The municipalities in which new cases are increasing at the time of writing are Oslo, Bergen, Trondheim, Tromsø, Indre Østfold, Sarpsborg, Haugesund, Lillehammer, Frogn and Lindesnes, VG reports.
According to the newspaper, the increases in the majority of these areas are due to clusters around smaller events or gatherings and have in some cases been traced by authorities to individuals who were infected abroad prior to arriving in or returning to Norway. In fewer cases, the source of an outbreak has not been identified.
All of the ten municipalities apart from Oslo have total infection numbers in double or single figures for the past 14 days. Much larger numbers of potential contacts have been placed in home quarantine.
In Oslo, 218 cases of infection were registered in the two weeks up to August 19th. That corresponds to 31.4 cases of infection per 100,000, which is above the limit of 20 cases of infection per 100,000 set by NIPH for its travel recommendations.
Friday saw Oslo’s two-weekly total fall slightly to 203.
A total of 35 new infections were registered in Norway on Friday, bringing the total in the last week to 346.
13 people are currently admitted with Covid-19 to hospitals across the country.
READ ALSO: UPDATED: MAP: Which countries are open for tourism to and from Norway?
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