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Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Friday

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Friday
Trondheim harbour. Photo by Simon Williams on Unsplash

Find out what’s going on in Norway on Friday with The Local’s short roundup of important news.

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Government proposes extra 1.5 billion kroner for hospitals in revised budget

The government has said it will compensate hospitals with an extra 1.5 billion kroner of funding as part of a revised national budget.

The funding will cover the loss of activity-based income.

The third wave of Covid-19 in Norway led to more hospital admissions than anticipated, which in turn led to lower revenues for hospitals, The Ministry of Health has said.

The ministry said that hospitals in the south-east, which saw the highest levels of infections and hospital admissions during the third wave, would received the largest proportion of compensation.

The revised budget will be presented on May 11th.

Hospitals will also receive 175 million kroner funding for IVF. 

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The funding has been set aside to compensate couples for sperm and egg donation.

Norwegian Health authorities to assess whether children should be vaccinated

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) is considering whether it should vaccinate children. As it stands, only people over the age of 18 in Norway are offered a vaccine.

The NIPH will make a decision by June.

The main reason why children are not currently considered for vaccination in Norway is because they are highly unlikely to be exposed to serious illness as a result of Covid-19.

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READ MORE: 'We must think ahead': Norway mulls plan to vaccinate children 

“The purpose of vaccination is primarily to protect people against serious illness,” Preben Aavitsland, chief doctor at the NIPH, said.

Large outbreak of Covid-19 after high school party

A total of 84 russ students have been infected with Covid-19 following a party in Rogland, Western Norway.

In addition to this, six close contacts have also contracted coronavirus following the party,

Russ is considered a rite of passage for students in Norway and is a period between the end of April and May 17th where final year high school students party and celebrate for four weeks before taking their final exams. They travel around in special party buses.

Previously, the NIPH had considered letting russ students skip the vaccine queue.

READ MORE: Could final year high school students in Norway be given earlier Covid-19 vaccines?

Coronavirus pandemic has led to increased loneliness

Covid-19 has led to an increase in loneliness, according to a report from Statistics Norway.

The figures for 2020, based on the Quality of Life Survey show that 11 percent of the population aged between 18 and 79 were suffering from loneliness. 

In 2012 just seven percent of people were suffering from loneliness. 

The increase from 2012 to 2020 is particularly pronounced among people under 35.

The statistics agency say the pandemic is a reason for increased loneliness in 2020.

Statistics Norway also believe that loneliness is even more widespread in 2021 than it was in 2020.  

506 new registered cases of Coronavirus in Norway

On Thursday 506 new coronavirus infections were registered, this is a sharp increase of 113 on the 7-day average of 393.

Cases are up by 37 compared to the day before.

The R-number or reproduction rate in Norway is currently 0.7. This means that the pandemic is receding in Norway as for every ten people that are infected, they will, on average, only infect another seven people.

Total number of Coronavirus cases reported in Norway. Source NIPH

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