– Clearly the trend is increasing again – VG

FHI pointed out on Wednesday that the number of new patients admitted to hospital has been relatively stable over the past four weeks. The whole of Norway is seen as one. The University Hospital of Northern Norway, for its part, has seen a large increase in the number of patients in the last two weeks.

At the same time, several municipalities in the north, including Tromsø and Alta, have seen a jump in infection rates. On Thursday, 748 cases of infection were registered in Norway, which is 301 more than the average for the seven previous days.

– We are unsure of what the fluctuations in the infection figures mean, but compared with the hospitalization figures, especially in northern Norway, it is clear that the trend is increasing again, says assistant health director Espen Rostrup Nakstad.

Difficult to interpret infection rates

As of Thursday this week, more cases of infection were registered than there were last week combined:

But FHI points out that it can now be difficult to compare infection rates over time, because the test systems have changed.

– Because many now test at home, and do not necessarily take an extra PCR test if the rapid test is positive, the dark numbers are greater now than before, Nakstad also says.

The number of tests has fallen sharply in recent weeks. Because when people only test at home, it is of course not registered in FHI’s infection register.

– This makes it more difficult for us to see the infection trends and we have to rely more on the hospitalization figures – which from experience change 1-2 weeks after the infection rates do so, Nakstad points out.

If we only look at the infection numbers, Norway now has a flat infection trend, according to VG’s number overview. And Troms and Finnmark are on their way to becoming the county in Norway with the highest infection pressure:

Hospitalized

At the same time, the number of corona patients in hospital was up to 121 on Friday:

20 of these are hospitalized at UNN in the north.

For 249 who have been hospitalized with corona as the main cause so far, the median age was 77 years. And 77 per cent belonged to risk groups with a high or moderate risk of a serious course.

– Among the fully vaccinated who are admitted, there are several elderly and people with risk factors. Among the unvaccinated, there are several younger ones, said department director Line Vold in FHI to NTB on Friday.

FHI writes in the last weekly report that «the proportion of new fully vaccinated patients per week has, as expected, increased in recent weeks in line with increasing vaccination coverage». They also point out that the hospitals’ capacity has not been threatened during the autumn.

– There are several fully vaccinated people who are infected in Norway now, just like in other countries, but for most it fortunately leads to a mild course of the disease. Nevertheless, we are a little worried that more fully vaccinated people will also be admitted to hospital. This is a trend that has been increasing since this summer, says Nakstad.

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