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Norway’s coronavirus infections curve now 'on way down'

The Local Norway
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Norway’s coronavirus infections curve now 'on way down'
A file photo showing coronavirus information signs at a daycare in Norway. Photo: AFP

Norway experienced an increase in the rate of Covid-19 infections nationwide between August 1st-19th, but the curve has levelled and is now showing signs of a downward trend.

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Figures collated by newspaper VG show a reversal of increased new coronavirus infections in Norway earlier in August.

The government introduced measures including a recommendation to use face masks on busy public transport in response to the trend.

READ ALSO: Coronavirus in Norway: Face masks recommended on Oslo public transport

Current data reported by VG – which uses the registrations system also used by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) – currently shows four municipalities with a trend of increasing cases. These are Bergen, Trondheim, Lillehammer and Vestvågøy.

Oslo and Indre Østfold – the two municipalities to which face mask recommendations were initially applied before being made national – now have a decreasing rate of new infections.

That represents a turnaround in the capital, where new infections had been increasing since August 8th.

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An outbreak in Indre Østfold resulted in a localised lockdown after being described as “uncontrollable” by the senior municipal doctor Jan Børre Johansen on August 9th.

Childcare facilities were closed and a ban on social gatherings in private homes were among the measures applied during a one-week lockdown.

Health minister Bent Høie said on Thursday that recent increased infections in Norway had “flattened out”.

“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,” Høie said.

“We now have a better understanding and more control, and take the steps needed to stop outbreaks when they appear,” he added.

According to the Norwegian Directorate of Health, 17 people are currently admitted to hospital in Norway with coronavirus. One person is receiving ventilator treatment.

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