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COVID-19

Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

Found out what’s going on in Norway on Wednesday with the Local’s short roundup of important news.

Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Trolltunga, one of Norways most famous hikes. Photo by Dong Zhang on Unsplash

Government press conference at 1pm

Norwegian Prime Minister Erna Solberg will hold a press conference on the Coronavirus situation at 1pm.

In addition to this, she will provide an update on the progress of Norway’s “corona certificate” or vaccine passport.

The government hopes to launch the passports this month but are yet to outline how exactly they will be used.

The version of the certificate they launch will not be the full one, that will come in June and will launch alongside the EU’s vaccine passport.

Minister of Health Bent Høie, Minister of Culture Abid Raja, Director of Health, Bjørn Guldvog and Director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health Line Vold will be present.

Press conference about Coronavirus restrictions in Oslo at noon.

Oslo’s mayor, Raymond Johansen, will hold a press conference on Coronavirus measures at midday.

The city council will reveal whether Oslo will be moving to stage two of its five-step plan for lifting restrictions in Norway’s capital.

Step two would see shops, cafes, restaurants, gyms and museums open. It would also see the return of alcohol being served in hospitality settings.

READ MORE: ‘Life as we remember’: Oslo reveals five-step plan for lifting Covid-19 restrictions

Record finder’s fee for metal detector enthusiast

The National Heritage Board has paid out a 200,000 kroner finder’s fee for a gold haul found using a metal detector.

The haul was discovered in 2016 by a metal detector enthusiast in Skaun, central Norway.

The enthusiast unearthed a gold hammered spiral ring with several rings hooked on, weighing 392 grams.

The piece dates back to the Iron Age and is one of the most significant finds of its kind.

The average finder’s fee from the National Heritage Board is 1,500 kroner.

Health authorities to hold test concerts

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health will run test concerts with a capacity of 5000 people, state broadcaster NRK are reporting.

It is trialling whether it is safe to carry out large public events with mass testing of the audience.

The trial events are being held with the aim of having events with a capacity of 5,000 by the summer.

The test events will only include participants aged 18 and 45 with no underlying risk factors.

Norway exports 8.6 Billion kroner worth of seafood in February

Norwegian fish exports rose by 338 million or 4 percent compared to the same time last year.

“Even though the seafood markets are still strongly affected by the pandemic, the value of seafood exports is the second-highest ever,” CEO of the Norwegian Seafood Council, Renate Larsen, said.

The CEO of the seafood council added that the rising price of snow crabs and salmon contributed to the increased exports.

484 Coronavirus infections registered

On Tuesday, 484 new cases of Covid-19 were recorded in Norway. This a rise of 85 cases compared to the 7-day average of 399.

READ MORE: Are Norways Covid-19 numbers on track for reopening?

This is an increase of one compared to the day before.

Total number of reported cases. Source: NIPH

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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.

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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