The pandemic may appear to be a bygone era, but it is a truth with major modifications.
Because even though it has been a long time since most of us thought about measures and infection rates, the pandemic continues to go on. Infection rates in the EU are roughly on a par with the winter of 2020/2021, and now the arrows have also begun to tilt upwards.
The country that really stands out in Europe is Portugal, which in recent weeks has registered its second highest infection pressure throughout the pandemic, and the number of deaths is increasing significantly.
The country currently has around 200 cases of infection per 100,000 inhabitants. If you do not remember the infection pressure figures so well, then these are figures that are so high that Norway as a whole did not experience it until the autumn of last year.
Omikron variant that can circumvent protection
The blame for the new flowering is given to the new omikron variant BA.5. The variant that most Norwegians have been infected with is BA.1 and BA.2.
According to the European Institute of Infectious Disease Control ECDC this variant spreads because it is able to bypass the immune response given from a previous infection or vaccination, «especially if it has weakened over time».
Already this winter, it became clear that the booster vaccines did not provide much protection for more than 3-6 months.
– We are now following BA.4 and BA.5 extra closely. These editions have primarily been detected in South Africa and especially BA.4 causes the spread of infection there. However, a certain increase is also observed in cases in some European countries, especially with BA.5 and especially in countries that have not previously had a large wave of infection with BA.2, such as Portugal. Also in countries that have previously had a larger BA.2 wave, the prevalence with BA.5 is increasing rapidly, FHI wrote in its latest weekly report.
Neighboring country to Norway’s real holiday favorite
Portugal is a popular holiday country in itself, but is also the neighboring country to Norwegians’ big holiday favorite Spain.
Spain has recently lifted its entry restrictions, and currently has relatively low infection rates. The big question is what happens if they experience the same infection challenge.
The online newspaper has asked FHI chief physician Preben Aavitsland about how they assess the danger that there will be new rounds of shutdowns in Europe this summer:
– There has been a lot of vaccination and a significant omicron wave in Europe. This provides good protection for the population against serious illness. As we interpret our European colleagues, they have a high threshold for recommending new restrictive infection control measures.
Most countries without entry restrictions
While entry restrictions in one form or another have been the norm in Europe have been the norm until recently, most countries have now lifted the requirement for a corona passport.
On Tuesday afternoon, only Portugal and France of the major countries, in addition to Malta, are required to have a corona passport.
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