All over Oslo, there have been long queues outside the city’s corona test centers.
– The health service works continuously with measures to ensure that citizens are offered a test as quickly as possible when needed, says test coordinator at the health service in Oslo municipality, Silje Thorkildsen in an e-mail to Nettavisen.
Tests more than the authorities’ requirements
– We are testing far more than the requirements from national authorities now, which is 5 percent of the population per week and are working to increase capacity further, she says.
In recent days, the number of new cases of infection in Oslo has slowly but surely increased. A record was set on Thursday, with 1,078 newly registered cases of infection.
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In recent days, the online newspaper has been tipped off by several Oslo citizens, who have found it difficult to get tested, and that the waiting time has been long.
With today’s infection control advice, where you have to stay at home with symptoms, it means that many people have to put things on hold – in anticipation of a test and a negative test result.
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Got vaccinated on the opposite side of town
Many are frustrated by the limited test capacity. Both among those who have stood in line at the drop-in centers for hours, and those who have tried to book a test appointment via Oslo Municipality’s website.
Ordering a corona test, answers “no” to the question of whether I have a car. Get an hour on the opposite side of town, one writes on Twitter.
Corona Phone Solution: Cancel and try again tomorrow. No, we can not help you with class at a specific location.
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When the vaccine doses were pumped out and the infection numbers dropped to bottom in previous years, it was decided to downgrade the test and infection tracking capacity in Norway.
In Oslo, this meant that several of the larger test stations in the city were closed down. Again, there are three centers throughout Oslo that offer drop-in testing. They are located at Adamstuen, Rommen and Mortensrud.
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– High demand
In addition, there are mobile drop-in test stations around different parts of the city. At Grønland torg, for example, it is possible to get tested without an agreement. For several days, the queue has been tens of meters long already half an hour before they open for the day at 09.00.
– There is a lot going on at the test centers now, and some waiting time must be expected. There are also different capacities at the different test sites, says Thorkildsen and continues:
– Therefore, residents who book an appointment may experience not being assigned the nearest test site, but the test site where you get the fastest hour, she says.
She further says that they test an average of 5.2 percent of Oslo’s population a week. That is 0.2 percent above the recommended test capacity.
– The test capacity is assessed continuously, and the Health Service works with flexible solutions to take care of the citizens’ needs for tests, says the test coordinator.
Not just just getting a free quick test instead
In many municipalities, you can order a quick test for a home test, which you then pick up from the municipality.
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Previously, this has also been practiced in some places in Oslo, but no longer. Now you have to be contacted by the infection tracking team, something you become when you are, for example, close contact of an infected person, to get a free quick test.
Regarding rapid tests, the test centers distribute rapid tests to close contacts who have received SMS from the infection tracking team in their district, and these are free, says Thorkildsen.
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