Coronavirus, Corona | Assessing coronal relief: – Now we tolerate more infection
– Well we tolerate more infection and then it is natural to look at relief, and we do, says Minister of Health Ingvild Kjerkol (Labor) to TV 2.
She says the government will make a thorough assessment of the entire national action package this week.
Also read: The coronavirus may have been in Norway as early as 2019
The number of Norwegians who have received the third dose of vaccine is getting higher with each passing day. The health authorities say that vaccine protection is good if there is a greater risk of serious diseases.
– This means that we can live with significantly more infection in society without the health service being blown up. It points to the way out, and we all want that, says the Minister of Health.
On Tuesday, Jyllands-Posten learned that Denmark’s Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen at a press conference on Wednesday night will probably announce that all coronary restrictions will be lifted from 31 January. In addition to removing restrictions, Frederiksen will also, according to newspaper sources, announce that coronavirus will no longer be categorized as a socially critical disease.
Also read: Danish media: Denmark reopens on 31 January
Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (Labor Party) will not promise that the same thing will happen in this country, writes VG. No later than February 1, there will be news about the way forward, he says.
– When we made real relief on 14 January, we announced that we would let it go for weeks and have a full review with an opening for relief along the way, says Støre.
Nakstad: – A few weeks before us
Netavisen has directed questions to FHI and the Norwegian Directorate of Health:
– How does the Norwegian Directorate of Health now assess the proportionality of infection control measures, and how far away can Norway be from Denmark’s assessment?
– We do not have access to the professional basis Danish health authorities base their assessments on, but Denmark has been a few weeks ahead of us in the microwave and probably thinks that they will soon be over the peak of infection this time, says assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad to Nettavisen.
FHI chief physician Preben Aavitsland says this about how far it is before Norway is in the same situation as Denmark:
– It will become clear after the government has decided. We will write about this in the risk assessment as publishers tomorrow, he replies.
Also read: FHI recommends the fourth dose for people with severely weakened immune systems
Nakstad says Denmark has a slightly different assessment than Norway when it comes to what is a socially critical disease:
– They have a different classification of general dangerous diseases than us, so it is not directly transferable. It has to do first and foremost with costs, for example whether tests should be free.
Skeptical professor
The sharp increase in infection and the high positive percentage in Denmark make Professor Hans Jørn Kolmos urge the Danish authorities to wait a bit.
– It may well be that you can now talk about what to do later. But we have to break the infection curve, and we have not done that yet, says Kolmos, who is a professor of clinical microbiology at the University of Southern Denmark.
Also read: 18,542 new coronary heart disease registered last 24 hours
He believes that it is likely that the infection curve will be broken within a few weeks and that in mid-February some of the restrictions can be lifted.
He calls it a purely political decision on the restrictions now.
– Nothing has changed when it comes to the justification for the restrictions. On the contrary, we introduced them at significantly lower numbers, he says and points out that we are now experiencing an infection that is almost out of control.
Posts are also increasing
Denmark has currently registered the world’s second highest infection pressure, with 7,790 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last few weeks. The corresponding figure for Norway is 3,536, according to the survey by Johns Hopkins University.
The number of hospital admissions with corona is also on the rise in Denmark. On Tuesday, the number of posts increased by 24 to 918, of which 44 are in intensive care units.
But although it has increased sharply since the New Year, unlike in the past, it is not as a sharp increase in the number of inpatients.
Also read: Changes quarantine rules
Far from everyone is hospitalized due to the coronavirus. About 30–40 percent of those who have tested positive are hospitalized for reasons other than corona, according to the National Board of Health.
14 new deaths have also been recorded. Thus, the total number of deaths with corona since the pandemic started has risen to 3,635.
It is not clear which measures will be repealed, but it may involve nightlife, the use of face masks and corona passes. Frederiksen is expected to announce that she wants all restrictions lifted.