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Coronavirus found in Oslo kindergarten and care home

A kindergarten and an elderly care home in Oslo have shut down sections and quarantined staff after discovering coronavirus infections, in a further reminder that the pandemic is not yet over in Norway.

Published: 17 June 2020 20:45 CEST

Coronavirus found in Oslo kindergarten and care home

The Kværnerdalen kindergarten has sent home all pupils and staff from its Kumlokket unit. Photo: Oslo Municipality

The Furuset care home in Oslo closed off several units to visitors on Wednesday after three staff and one resident tested positive for the virus. Meanwhile, the Kværnerdalen kindergarten has sent home all children and staff from one of its sections after one person tested positive.

Henrik Mevold, director of community relations at Oslo's elderly care department, said that the municipality was still working on testing everyone who could have come into contact with the infected.

“We detected that an employee was infected there on Monday, and have continued to work on infection tracking. Over the past few days we have discovered two more employees and one resident infected,” he said.

Meanwhile the municipality has sent a written message to parents and staff at the kindergarten, saying that everyone connected to its 'Kumlokket' section will be asked to go into quarantine for ten days.

“The kindergarten has in collaboration with the municipality's consultant doctor made an assessment of who may have been in close contact with the infected,” the message reads. “This applies only to the children in Kumlokket and a few employees associated with this unit.”

The two infections follow small outbreaks last week in the Oslo suburbs of Sondre Nordstrand and Alna.

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Spain's prosecutors file criminal complaint over virus care home death

Photo: AFP

Madrid's public prosecutor's office said the two women are suspected of manslaughter and denial of medical attention in relation to the death in March of a woman in her 80s who had just moved into the home.

Madrid was one of the hardest-hit cities in Europe by the first wave of the pandemic, and the complaint is expected to be one of several alleging inadequate care at retirement homes during the period.

In a statement, the prosecutor's office said the doctor and the director of the home, who were not named, did not follow the protocol set up by the Madrid regional government for caring for residents during the pandemic.

The doctor “disregarded” the protocol and did not call a hospital about the woman, despite her worsening condition, until eight days after she began having breathing trouble.

“Despite her rapid transfer to hospital, she died the following day from cardiac arrest,” the statement said.

The care home's director “was aware of the patient's clinical situation (but) did nothing” to ensure she received health care during periods when the doctor was absent, notably on the weekend before her death, it added.

Amnesty International warned earlier this month that conditions at elderly care homes in the Madrid region and in Catalonia remained “alarming” despite improvements.

In a sharply worded report, it said the “vast majority” of residents had not been properly cared for during the pandemic.

The measures put in place by both regions were “inefficient and inadequate” and violated the residents' rights, it said.

Spain has been one of Europe's worst-hit countries, with the virus infecting more than 1.7 million people and causing over 48,000 deaths.

Close to half of that number are believed to be elderly people who died in homes, Amnesty said.

At the height of the first wave in March, Spanish soldiers helping to fight the pandemic found elderly patients in retirement homes abandoned and, in some cases, dead in their beds.

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