Oslo Municipality raises the level of preparedness to level three – which is the highest level. City councilor Raymond Johansen is also considering whether there should be a bandage order.
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On Monday, 831 new cases of infection were registered in Oslo. It is the highest ever recorded in the capital. The trend in the number of inpatients is increasing with 89 corona-infected inpatients in local health trusts.
On Tuesday, city councilor Raymond Johansen (Labor Party) called in for a press conference about the corona situation.
– It is a demanding situation that creates unrest and worry, he says in the introduction.
– If we only had admission numbers and death rates, we probably would not be here today. Because those numbers are far less dramatic than the infection numbers, he continued.
This means that the municipality raises the emergency level to level three – the highest level they have in the toolbox.
– This means that we set central crisis management to ensure effective information sharing, common situation understanding and coordination of our efforts.
Assessing bandage orders
They come after the recommendation for face masks in public transport, in shopping malls, in shops and in taxis, which came last week.
– We are now monitoring the use of sanitary napkins, if the recommendation is not enough, we will continuously consider introducing injunctions, says Johansen.
He further emphasized that they are continuing efforts to set the booster dose for those over 65 years of age. Efforts are also being made to put in place further vaccination of those between 65 and 45 after Christmas.
– Then Oslo will make sure that everyone over 18 has been offered a third dose before Easter, said health councilor Robert Steen.
All students from fifth grade to tenth grade in Oslo are tested every week.
– We are considering expanding it to the primary school, says Johansen.
New national measures
The press conference comes after the government on Tuesday introduced new measures. Among other things, consideration for the omikron variant is the backdrop for the summons.
– Now omikron is spreading in the world. There is a lot we do not know about this variant, such as whether the vaccines work just as well against the new virus. We also do not know how it will behave in Norway this winter. The situation today is nevertheless completely different than before. It is fragile and unpredictable, but we have control. If the situation does not escalate, we will manage this without shutting down our city, says Johansen.
These are the new national rules – they apply from Wednesday 1 December:
- Quarantine rules: If you live with someone who is infected, must you stay at home in quarantine until you have the answer to a negative test. This applies to adults, whether they have been vaccinated or unvaccinated. To avoid quarantine, vaccinated people must be retested no later than after seven days. Unvaccinated people must be tested daily for seven days with a rapid test or every other day with a PCR test. For children, this is not a duty, but a recommendation.
- Rules for infected: If you are infected with covid-19, you must be isolated for five days. This applies regardless of whether you have been vaccinated or not. Until today, the requirement has been 2 days for those vaccinated without symptoms. In addition, you must have been fever-free for 24 hours before leaving isolation.
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