OPEN: The test station at Festplassen and Spelhaugen are open. Bergen emergency room is closed and personnel are given priority for home testing in connection with outbreaks. Photo: Hallgeir Vågenes, VG
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Bergen municipality asks people who only want to be tested for safety to postpone it.
Just updated
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The reason is high demand and reduced capacity on the second day of Easter. The municipality rather wants those with the greatest risk of being infected to get an appointment for testing first.
– It seems that there are many who want to test themselves. But a rush is also expected now in connection with the Easter holidays, says Tove Kjærvik, unit manager for the test stations in Bergen.
She explains that there is a reduced test capacity at the test stations now as a result of the Bergen emergency room being closed for testing.
Instead, these personnel have been prioritized for home testing in connection with ongoing outbreaks in the last two days – and it is thus not possible to book an appointment for testing at this station.
– Can not predict the development
On the days during Easter there have been reduced opening hours, around 2,000 people have been tested, while on a normal weekday with full opening hours, up to 3,500 people can be tested, according to Kjærvik.
– Should you rather staff up the test capacity due to the expected Easter rush?
– Yes, and we have people on standby, but we can not predict the development. Corona outbreaks have now occurred, and priority has therefore been given to testing there in recent days. This is also why we ask those who do not know that they have been exposed to infection, are not close contacts or have no symptoms to wait to be tested.
Good test capacity in Oslo
In Oslo, from 1 April until today, just under 2,500 tests have been taken per day, communications adviser at the Health Service in Oslo, Kjartan Sverdrup, informs VG.
Before Easter, the number of tests per day was over 8000.
– We have very good capacity. Around 2300 tests were done yesterday, says Sverdrup.
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