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COVID-19

56 people infected with coronavirus in Norway

A total of 56 people have tested positive for coronavirus in Norway.

Published: 4 March 2020 18:27 CET
56 people infected with coronavirus in Norway
Illustration photo. AFP

The total of confirmed infections in the country has increased by over 20 during the last day, according to figures updated by the Norwegian Institute for Public Health (FHI) on Wednesday evening. 

None of the people so far infected in Norway are seriously ill or hospitalized. The affected individuals have been placed in home quarantine under the care of local health services, FHI said.

The past 24 hours have seen 23 new cases Norway. All of the new cases have been traced to outbreaks abroad. There are no new cases associated with the outbreak at the Ullevål campus of Oslo University Hospital.

Norway has the most coronavirus cases of the Nordic countries. According to FIH, this may be because Norway is testing many people and because many of those who have tested positive have been on holiday in northern Italy.

“We see that in Norway we have more positive tests than in the other Nordic countries. We think that this reflects that we in Norway are now testing many people and that very many of them have come home from northern Italy during the Norwegian winter break,” FHI head of department Line Vold said via the health authority’s website.

However, the health authority believes the spread of infection in Norway may be entering a new phase in which infections in Norway may not always be possible to trace to a known outbreak area.

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More to follow

The coronavirus situation in Norway remains less serious than in other countries, but you can keep up to date with the latest news via this article, which also includes official guidelines on the everyday precautions you can take and what to do if you have travelled to outbreak areas or are concerned about symptoms. The article will be updated on an ongoing basis.

We are keeping the article paywall-free, which means it will remain open to new or occasional readers. An explanation of this decision can be found at the bottom of the article.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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