Justifies tightening with test deficiency – therefore Norway did not buy more – VG
The health authorities point out that more tests could replace more intrusive measures in the future. But still, the Norwegian Directorate of Health warns that they probably can not deliver as many as the municipalities need in the future.
After more than 20 months of pandemic, Norway is in a new wave of infection – and may have a shortage of rapid tests. The municipality must be given high priority in its use, because it is a “limited resource”.
In the UK, people can even order a free package of seven self-tests every day.
– Limited access to rapid and self-tests means that there is a greater need for contact and mobility-reducing measures, said Director of Health Bjørn Guldvog on Monday, before the Norwegian Directorate of Health recommended that the government tighten sharply.
But the health leaders respond differently to why Norway does not have more tests now.
This is how the deficiency is explained
The Norwegian Directorate of Health coordinates the purchase of tests and dispatch to the municipalities. FHI has repeatedly expressed concerns about a winter wave – and that there may be new variants that change the pandemic.
But the Norwegian Directorate of Health admits that no account was taken of the fact that there would be a new and much more contagious variant this winter when they bought tests.
– We have planned for the scenarios that we have set before us, which have naturally been greater challenges with delta infection. But we have not fully taken into account, when we have acquired tests, that we get a variant with as much infectivity as omikron, says the health director to VG.
– This means that in the weeks ahead we will feel a little that we must prioritize correctly how to use tests. At the same time, I would like to say that we have a very good test capacity in Norway and especially also a very good capacity with PCR tests. But we would like to have even more rapid tests, that’s right, he says.
On their websites write The Norwegian Directorate of Health that recently “there has been a reported need that exceeds what the Norwegian Directorate of Health has the opportunity to deliver”. But assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad says for his part that there is no shortage of fastest today.
In any case, Norway will buy more, but they will not come to light.
– It takes some time to acquire them, because this must also be done correctly, but we are working hard to get as many rapid tests as we can into our country, says Guldvog.
– We have a good spare capacity, and a large capacity for pcr testing, but now the demand can quickly become greater and be greater in the coming weeks than what we deliver. That is why it is important that we give good priority to how we use quickly, he says.
He emphasizes that the omicron infection could not be managed without measures, and that just quick tests would not be sufficient to stop an omistance.
– Store costs
When asked about the test access, Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol answers:
– We do what we can to get enough tests. Now the test activity is being scaled up quite sharply. The availability of tests is also part of the assessment we have made when we have landed on the entirety of these measures. But we need many tests in the future. We buy what is available in a tester.
– The question is why we do not have more than what we have right now. If it has not been possible to get more, or if we have chosen to go to that level here?
– It is because we need many more with the measures we introduce, it is a steep upscaling is necessary.
When VG last week asked the health director if there is any limit to how many rapid tests they can get, or if it is about how much they choose to buy nationally, he replied:
– It is first and foremost about how much we order nationally, but this is not free. These are large costs, which then of course must be seen in relation to the benefit, Guldvog said.
Asked again this week whether it is right that they actually buy everything that is available from tests now, the health director answers:
– We do not buy everything that is available, because the world market in this area is large. But we buy what we think is sufficient to be able to handle the situation, and it is more than before, absolutely, says Guldvog.
– But do you take on your cloak that we have no self-tests now, or do you think the government has a responsibility for it?
– I think it is very complex, and I do not think I want to distribute blame between the actors. It has something to do with what understanding you have had of a situation you have been in, and the necessity of a correct number of tests given the picture you see in front of you, says Guldvog.
The director of health says that a composite group from the Norwegian Directorate of Health and NIPH should be assessed on an ongoing basis for tests, within the financial framework set by the government. But he denies at the Norwegian Directorate of Health has asked for more money for tests this autumn and received no from the government.
At the same time, Guldvog says there is reason to discuss how they have managed to equip themselves for testing.
– It will be part of the evaluation that the corona commission will definitely look at, says Guldvog to VG.
Believes capacity needs to go up
In the next few weeks, the Norwegian Directorate of Health will send out self-tests to the municipalities with the lowest reported stock status based on population “As far as the stock reaches”
I another letter the state administrators before the weekend, the Norwegian Directorate of Health wrote that they strive to obtain a new test per inhabitant before Christmas, and 30 million tests in 2022. 30 million tests correspond to 5-6 tests per inhabitant.
– Is it enough?
– Now we think we have to procure even more. So we’re talking about at least 50 million tests, maybe more. But here there are constantly new purchases that must be made, says Guldvog.
In a professional council to write FHI that the test capacity in Norway must be significantly expanded immediately so that testing can be used as a replacement for more intrusive measures. Among other things, they point out testing as an alternative to quarantine if you have had contact with an infected person.