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.
Breivik parole hearing continues
On Thursday, the parole hearing for far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in the July 22nd attacks, will be brought to a close.
It is widely expected that his request for parole will be turned down. Yesterday a psychiatrist told a court that Breivik still posed the same threat to society now as he did then.
“The risk of future acts of violence has not changed since 2012 and 2013 when I did my first evaluations,” Randi Rosenqvist, who has conducted several assessments of Breivik over the past decade, told his parole hearing.
READ MORE: Norwegian court told Breivik as dangerous now as a decade ago
Breivik was handed a 21-year sentence that can be extended indefinitely, the maximum penalty that could be given at the time, in 2012 for the attacks.
15,987 new Covid-19 cases in Norway
On Wednesday, 15,987 new Covid-19 cases were registered in Norway. That is 4,162 more than the same day last week. This is also the highest number of reported infections recorded in Norway in a single week and the second day in a row that more than 15,000 cases have been registered.
Over the last seven days, an average of 11,744 Covid infections have been registered per day. The same average a week prior was 7,356.
READ ALSO: Norway registers over 15,000 daily Covid-19 cases for the first time
One in four trains in Norway hit with delays
Figures from Bane Nor, the state-owned company responsible for Norway’s railway lines, obtained by newspaper VG, revealed that every fourth train in Norway was hit with some form of delay in 2021.
Last year 26.8 percent of all passenger trains in Norway were affected by some form of trouble or another. The issues range from delays of up to four minutes to cancellations.
The Oslo-Drammen line accounted for more than a quarter of all train delays in 2021.
The explanation for this line causing so many delays was the sheer amount of traffic on the line rather than the route being poorly operated. The Oslo- Drammen line is the busiest in Norway.
“We want as many people as possible to take the train. But the more trains we put on the track, the more delays one error will cause. That is the trade-off we have to make,” Sverre Kjenne, executive VP of operations and technology at Bane Nor, told VG.
10 deaths can be linked to Omicron
Ten deaths can be linked directly to the Omicron variant since the variant was first detected in Norway, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has told public broadcaster NRK.
The variant was first detected in Norway at the beginning of December last year.
1,412 deaths related to Covid-19 have been registered in Norway since the pandemic began.
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Breivik parole hearing continues
On Thursday, the parole hearing for far-right terrorist Anders Behring Breivik, who killed 77 people in the July 22nd attacks, will be brought to a close.
It is widely expected that his request for parole will be turned down. Yesterday a psychiatrist told a court that Breivik still posed the same threat to society now as he did then.
“The risk of future acts of violence has not changed since 2012 and 2013 when I did my first evaluations,” Randi Rosenqvist, who has conducted several assessments of Breivik over the past decade, told his parole hearing.
READ MORE: Norwegian court told Breivik as dangerous now as a decade ago
Breivik was handed a 21-year sentence that can be extended indefinitely, the maximum penalty that could be given at the time, in 2012 for the attacks.
15,987 new Covid-19 cases in Norway
On Wednesday, 15,987 new Covid-19 cases were registered in Norway. That is 4,162 more than the same day last week. This is also the highest number of reported infections recorded in Norway in a single week and the second day in a row that more than 15,000 cases have been registered.
Over the last seven days, an average of 11,744 Covid infections have been registered per day. The same average a week prior was 7,356.
READ ALSO: Norway registers over 15,000 daily Covid-19 cases for the first time
One in four trains in Norway hit with delays
Figures from Bane Nor, the state-owned company responsible for Norway’s railway lines, obtained by newspaper VG, revealed that every fourth train in Norway was hit with some form of delay in 2021.
Last year 26.8 percent of all passenger trains in Norway were affected by some form of trouble or another. The issues range from delays of up to four minutes to cancellations.
The Oslo-Drammen line accounted for more than a quarter of all train delays in 2021.
The explanation for this line causing so many delays was the sheer amount of traffic on the line rather than the route being poorly operated. The Oslo- Drammen line is the busiest in Norway.
“We want as many people as possible to take the train. But the more trains we put on the track, the more delays one error will cause. That is the trade-off we have to make,” Sverre Kjenne, executive VP of operations and technology at Bane Nor, told VG.
10 deaths can be linked to Omicron
Ten deaths can be linked directly to the Omicron variant since the variant was first detected in Norway, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health has told public broadcaster NRK.
The variant was first detected in Norway at the beginning of December last year.
1,412 deaths related to Covid-19 have been registered in Norway since the pandemic began.
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