Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Thursday
Find out what's going on in Norway on Thursday with The Local's short roundup of important news.
New measures set to be announced
The government will hold a press conference at 7pm this evening where it is widely expected to announce some relief to the current Covid-19 measures, which were introduced in mid-December.
Various ministers have made it clear throughout the week that multiple measures could be relaxed.
Lifting the national alcohol ban in hospitality is among the restrictions that could be lifted, should the professional advice say it is safe to do so.
Additionally, the government also wants to move high schools from red-level, which sees partial home learning, to yellow level, which sees smaller class sizes.
READ MORE: How could Norway’s Covid-19 rules change this week?
We will be covering tonight's press conference, so be sure to check in with The Local to stay up to date on how the rules will affect you.
11,825 new Covid-19 cases
On Wednesday, 11,825 new Covid-19 cases were registered in Norway, a new daily infection record and the first time that more than 10,000 infections in 24 hours have been reported. This is 4,660 cases more than the average for the previous seven days.
In Oslo, 3,038 new cases of infection have been registered, 1,368 more than the day before.
264 people are in hospital with Covid-19, and 80 of those are in intensive care.
Infection numbers could reach 50,000 per day during winter wave
In an up to date risk assessment of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has estimated that coronavirus infections could reach around 50,000 per day during a winter wave between January and March.
"We expect a significant wave of infected in the coming weeks and expect that we will reach the peak at the turn of the month (the end of January and beginning of February)," Camilla Stoltenberg, director of the NIPH, told public broadcaster NRK of the report's findings.
Stoltenberg added that while Omicron was around twice as spreadable as the Delta variant, it was also around a third as likely to lead to serious illness.
At the peak of infection, the NIPH has said it expects less than 200 hospital admissions per day and fewer than 150 people at any time requiring a ventilator.
The NIPH also said that it would be impossible to stop a winter wave but could be slowed down with intervention measures.
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New measures set to be announced
The government will hold a press conference at 7pm this evening where it is widely expected to announce some relief to the current Covid-19 measures, which were introduced in mid-December.
Various ministers have made it clear throughout the week that multiple measures could be relaxed.
Lifting the national alcohol ban in hospitality is among the restrictions that could be lifted, should the professional advice say it is safe to do so.
Additionally, the government also wants to move high schools from red-level, which sees partial home learning, to yellow level, which sees smaller class sizes.
READ MORE: How could Norway’s Covid-19 rules change this week?
We will be covering tonight's press conference, so be sure to check in with The Local to stay up to date on how the rules will affect you.
11,825 new Covid-19 cases
On Wednesday, 11,825 new Covid-19 cases were registered in Norway, a new daily infection record and the first time that more than 10,000 infections in 24 hours have been reported. This is 4,660 cases more than the average for the previous seven days.
In Oslo, 3,038 new cases of infection have been registered, 1,368 more than the day before.
264 people are in hospital with Covid-19, and 80 of those are in intensive care.
Infection numbers could reach 50,000 per day during winter wave
In an up to date risk assessment of the Omicron Covid-19 variant, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) has estimated that coronavirus infections could reach around 50,000 per day during a winter wave between January and March.
"We expect a significant wave of infected in the coming weeks and expect that we will reach the peak at the turn of the month (the end of January and beginning of February)," Camilla Stoltenberg, director of the NIPH, told public broadcaster NRK of the report's findings.
Stoltenberg added that while Omicron was around twice as spreadable as the Delta variant, it was also around a third as likely to lead to serious illness.
At the peak of infection, the NIPH has said it expects less than 200 hospital admissions per day and fewer than 150 people at any time requiring a ventilator.
The NIPH also said that it would be impossible to stop a winter wave but could be slowed down with intervention measures.
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