– Think we have control – VG

However, this does not mean that he is particularly concerned about the situation.

– This week we have no cases of infection with unknown infection, and that is the most important thing, emphasizes municipal doctor Per Kristian Opheim in Tønsberg municipality.

Nationally, at least 139 cases of the more contagious delta variant have so far been registered. Earlier on Thursday, Tønsberg’s neighboring municipality Færder report 56 proven cases – in an outburst that mainly originates from choir concerts in a culture house in the municipality.

But the origin itself is from Tønsberg – who discovered the first cases on Monday this week. The crisis management therefore tightened – with recommendations that all school graduations and leisure activities are canceled to June 20th.

Are you wondering what measures apply where you are? Check VG’s overview here.

– The starting point for what we now see in Færder with this choir, is someone living here in Tønsberg. We have some ramifications from this person. We also have some cases of infection that have come back to us from Færder, says municipal chief physician Opheim.

Tønsberg and Færder are closely intertwined – and for the same reason have worked closely together through the pandemic over the past year. Among other things, they share a common test station.

– Our city boundary runs in the middle of a residential street, so separating these two municipalities is like separating districts in Oslo, Opheim emphasizes.

He therefore believes that it is only a matter of luck and bad luck that it is now the neighboring municipality that has the most delta cases.

Expecting doubling in Delta infection

But also in Tønsberg, the municipal chief expects an increase – with a doubling in delta cases – at least.

– We have quite a few positive infected people who are close contacts of people with confirmed delta infection. We therefore have many samples we are sure can be Delta-sequenced, he says.

– How do you assess the situation with increasing number of delta cases?

– I would have liked to have been without it, but we both believe and believe that we have done a very thorough infection tracking job. We believe we have control over this, and that we have managed to identify close contacts so that they are in quarantine.

In March, Vestfold and Telemark had the highest infection pressure nationally, with an R-number of 1.7. Færder and Tønsberg were then among the municipalities with by far the highest infection pressure in the country.

Now, however, the trend in the registered infection in Tønsberg is flat, according to VG’s overview. And despite delta infection, it is not about the infection numbers the municipality saw earlier this spring:

Several fully vaccinated infected

Among those infected with the delta variant, several are fully vaccinated. Maybe it can provide new knowledge, says the municipal chief.

– We have always known that fully vaccinated can be infected, but with a lower symptom burden. It is also believed that they are less contagious. Now we know that some of the fully vaccinated infected here have several close contacts, so in the next few days we may know a little more about the extent to which they are transmitted further or not.

Also in Færder, several of the infected are fully vaccinated. Earlier on Thursday, municipal chief physician Elin Jakobsen informed NTB that six fully vaccinated people had been infected. Frode Forland, director of infection control at FHI, says Dagbladet that number is alarmingly high.

– We can not draw any conclusions on this basis, but it is an alarmingly high number. I think so. he says to the newspaper.

Knowledge so far also indicates that vaccination with one dose of mRNA vaccine protects somewhat less against disease from the delta, but that one is “very well” protected after two doses, shows FHI’s latest risk assessment of the virus variant, which they call a “concern variant”.

It seems that the risk of the virus variant continuing to spread in Norway is great. In the long run, this will be dominant, the outbreak group believes behind the note.

– We expect that the epidemic can still be kept under control with effective implementation of current measures and continued rapid vaccination of as many as possible.

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