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

Find 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 
Oslo Operahus. Photo by Arvid Malde on Unsplash

Coronavirus measures extended in Oslo 

Oslo City Council have extended current coronavirus measures until June 18th. 

The decision comes after infections in the Norwegian capital rose by 87 percent last week. 

“Almost 600 were infected. A large amount of those were 16–19-year-old’s who haven’t been vaccinated yet,” Executive Mayor Raymond Johansen told the press on Tuesday. 

Johansen added that another reason for extending measures was that the city council is hoping to lift them for good when they do ease restrictions. 

Click HERE for more on the extension of coronavirus restrictions in Oslo 

The Executive Mayor said the city would also be banning russ, final year high school students who party in the month leading up to their final exams, from “rolling”. 

READ MORE: Could final year high school students in Norway be given earlier Covid-19 vaccines? 

This is where students ride around in special party buses or coaches. 

“If there are many in a russ bus, perhaps in a jovial mood and wanting to dance and shout and have a good time, we see that the risk of infection spreading increases greatly,” Johansen said. 

You can read more on the current measures in Oslo here

Warning systems tested today 

The Norwegian Civil Defence will test its warning systems today at midday. 

The message “Important message- search for information” will be tested in all municipalities where warning system are installed. 

The signal will be sent three times with one-minute pauses between each message. 

There are around 1,250 warning systems installed across Norway that can be used in both war and peacetime. 

“In peacetime, the warning systems can be used in industrial accidents with emissions or toxic or dangerous substances. While in war, the facilities can be used in case of airstrikes,” Sigurd Heier, acting chief of the civil defence, said in a statement.

Press conference on the Johnson & Johnson vaccine 

The government is expected to unveil its voluntary scheme for those who wish to opt-in for the single-use Johnson & Johnson Covid-19 vaccine, newspaper VG have reported

According to the paper, the plan will be rolled out as early as next week. 

The solution will allow GP’s and private medical clinics to assess those wishing to take the vaccine and print a prescription for it. 

There are currently over 200,000 vaccine doses of the single use vaccine in stock. 

READ ALSO: Norway officially axes AstraZeneca jab and changes vaccine strategy

188 new Covid-19 cases 

On Tuesday, 188 new coronavirus infections were recorded across Norway, a decline of 51 on the seven-day average of 239. 

In the Capital, Oslo, 62 new cases were registered. This is a drop of 26 on the seven-day average. 

The R-number or reproduction rate in Norway is currently 1.0. This means that every ten people that are infected will, on average, only infect another ten people, indicating that the infection level is stable.

Number of reported Covid-19 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.” 

READ ALSO: 

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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