Norway enters fourth Covid-19 wave, warns health chief
Norway is currently in the middle of a fourth wave of Covid-19 infections, Espen Nakstad, assistant director of health at the Norwegian Directorate of Health, said Wednesday.
On Tuesday, Norway recorded the highest daily number of infections, 1093, since the peak of the third wave in March following weeks of rising infections.
As a result, the assistant director of health at the Norwegian Directorate of Health, Espen Nakstad, has said that Norway is currently in a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.
“We are definitely in a fourth wave of infection now, but the vaccination rates mean that we currently do not have a large wave of hospital admissions as of today,” Nakstad told newspaper Dagbladet.
Currently, 52 people have been admitted to hospitals in Norway with Covid-19, and 16 patients are receiving intensive care, according to the latest figures from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH).
Health experts have predicted a rise in Covid cases for weeks, and earlier this week, Nakstad said he expected coronavirus infections to reach 1,300 per day by early September.
READ ALSO: Report claims Norway has overpaid for Covid-19 vaccines
Over the past few weeks, health authorities have said rising infection rates in Norway are currently not as serious as they would have been during previous waves of infection due to high vaccine rates in Norway, ensuring the number of hospital admissions remains low as cases rise.
Just under 90 percent of people aged over 18 have received their first vaccine jab while 60 percent are fully vaccinated.
Nakstad has echoed this but also urged people to do their best to keep infections under control to ensure that there isn’t a surge of hospital admissions.
“Nevertheless, it is important to keep control so that not so many people become infected that the admission numbers also increase a lot,” Nakstad said.
The Norwegian government has said it would lift the last remaining measures once everyone over 18 had received their second coronavirus vaccine jab. The NIPH has previously said it expects this to happen around the 12th of September.
Municipalities will still be able to introduce their own rules on measures such as facemasks and social distancing once national restrictions end.
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On Tuesday, Norway recorded the highest daily number of infections, 1093, since the peak of the third wave in March following weeks of rising infections.
As a result, the assistant director of health at the Norwegian Directorate of Health, Espen Nakstad, has said that Norway is currently in a fourth wave of coronavirus infections.
“We are definitely in a fourth wave of infection now, but the vaccination rates mean that we currently do not have a large wave of hospital admissions as of today,” Nakstad told newspaper Dagbladet.
Currently, 52 people have been admitted to hospitals in Norway with Covid-19, and 16 patients are receiving intensive care, according to the latest figures from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH).
Health experts have predicted a rise in Covid cases for weeks, and earlier this week, Nakstad said he expected coronavirus infections to reach 1,300 per day by early September.
READ ALSO: Report claims Norway has overpaid for Covid-19 vaccines
Over the past few weeks, health authorities have said rising infection rates in Norway are currently not as serious as they would have been during previous waves of infection due to high vaccine rates in Norway, ensuring the number of hospital admissions remains low as cases rise.
Just under 90 percent of people aged over 18 have received their first vaccine jab while 60 percent are fully vaccinated.
Nakstad has echoed this but also urged people to do their best to keep infections under control to ensure that there isn’t a surge of hospital admissions.
“Nevertheless, it is important to keep control so that not so many people become infected that the admission numbers also increase a lot,” Nakstad said.
The Norwegian government has said it would lift the last remaining measures once everyone over 18 had received their second coronavirus vaccine jab. The NIPH has previously said it expects this to happen around the 12th of September.
Municipalities will still be able to introduce their own rules on measures such as facemasks and social distancing once national restrictions end.
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