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‘It’s nearly time’: What will life in Norway be like when last Covid-19 measures are lifted?

Norway's health minister, Bent Høie, and Norwegian health authorities, on Friday, outlined what life in the country would be like when the last national Covid-19 restrictions are dropped.

Published: 17 September 2021 16:34 CEST
'It's nearly time': What will life in Norway be like when last Covid-19 measures are lifted?
Life in Norway could soon be back to normal. Photo by tarreha on Unsplash

Minister of Health Bent Høie said Friday that the time for Norway to drop the last national coronavirus measures was on the horizon.

“We are approaching the time for a normal everyday life with increased preparedness. We will not announce when it will happen, but we will talk about what will happen,” he said at a government press conference on Friday.

The health minister also revealed a glimpse at what the country would look like once Covid measures were lifted, or what the government has dubbed “new everyday life with increased preparedness”.

“There will still be infections in society, as before the pandemic hit us. There will still be hospitalisations and deaths, as was the case before the pandemic hit us. The vaccines provide good protection but not 100 percent, in addition, other viruses will circulate,” Høie said.

He also warned that health authorities were bracing themselves for a tough flu season this year due to the general immunity in the population falling as a knock-on effect of infection control measures aimed at reducing coronavirus cases.

READ ALSO: Why health experts in Norway are more worried about flu than new Covid-19 variants

The Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) also published a list of recommendations that should be implemented when the final restrictions are lifted.

The health authorities said that social distancing, working from home, contact reducing measures, Covid certificates for travel and domestic use, entry restrictions and testing before and after travel could be all be axed. Although the exact details surrounding how these measures will be scrapped could change as they are only recommendations for the time being. 

The Norwegian Directorate of Health also recommended that preparedness for new variants, a winter Covid wave and other respiratory illnesses be maintained.

Furthermore, the directorate stressed that the lifting of measures wasn’t the end of the pandemic and that a contingency plan would need to be put in place should the pandemic develop in an unexpected manner.

It also said that the lifting of entry measures and travel rules should be done gradually, meaning many may still have to wait a while before they can travel to Norway again.

The TISK (testing, isolation, infection tracing and quarantine) strategy would also be downgraded on September 27th, although neither the health minister nor health directorate clarified how this would work.

On testing, the Norwegian Directorate of Health also advised that municipalities retain good test capacity and capability throughout the window and that if test stations are closed, it should be possible to have them operational again in two weeks.

Høie also added that municipalities could begin winding down their Covid vaccine programs from the beginning of October.

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HEALTH

Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The World Health Organization's European office warned on Tuesday the risk of Covid-19 has not gone away, saying it was still responsible for nearly 1,000 deaths a week in the region. And the real figure may be much higher.

Published: 27 June 2023 13:27 CEST
Covid-19 still causing 1,000 deaths a week in Europe, WHO warns

The global health body on May 5 announced that the Covid-19 pandemic was no longer deemed a “global health emergency.”

“Whilst it may not be a global public health emergency, however, Covid-19 has not gone away,” WHO Regional Director for Europe Hans Kluge told reporters.

The WHO’s European region comprises 53 countries, including several in central Asia.

“Close to 1,000 new Covid-19 deaths continue to occur across the region every week, and this is an underestimate due to a drop in countries regularly reporting Covid-19 deaths to WHO,” Kluge added, and urged authorities to ensure vaccination coverage of at least 70 percent for vulnerable groups.

Kluge also said estimates showed that one in 30, or some 36 million people, in the region had experienced so called “long Covid” in the last three years, which “remains a complex condition we still know very little about.”

“Unless we develop comprehensive diagnostics and treatment for long Covid, we will never truly recover from the pandemic,” Kluge said, encouraging more research in the area which he called an under-recognised condition.

Most countries in Europe have dropped all Covid safety restrictions but some face mask rules remain in place in certain countries in places like hospitals.

Although Spain announced this week that face masks will no longer be required in certain healthcare settings, including hospitals and pharmacies, with a couple of exceptions.

Sweden will from July 1st remove some of its remaining Covid recommendations for the public, including advice to stay home and avoid close contact with others if you’re ill or have Covid symptoms.

The health body also urged vigilance in the face of a resurgence of mpox, having recorded 22 new cases across the region in May, and the health impact of heat waves.

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