Now fully vaccinated must also be quarantined if one in the household is infected – and there is reason to believe that it is the omicron variant.
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Mathias Karlsen Bratli (video)
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The WHO warned on Monday that the omicron variant of the coronavirus is likely to spread worldwide and can have serious consequences in some regions.
The government states that they want to slow down the spread of the new variant.
– The experience from the corona pandemic so far is that virus variants with increased infectivity will spread to all countries, including Norway. To limit and delay the spread in this country, we therefore introduce a number of offensive measures, writes Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol in a press release.
These are the new measures, which the government says will be introduced “now”:
- The isolation period is extended to seven days for those who test positive and who there is reason to believe are infected with the variant omicron.
- The infection quarantine is imposed for 10 days for household members and similarly close persons who there is reason to believe are infected with the variant omicron, regardless of vaccination status. These are required to perform a PCR test as soon as possible and on day 7 before the end of the quarantine.
- A test obligation is introduced for other close contacts. They should be tested with a PCR test as soon as possible and between days 3 and 7 after close contact and should, if possible, avoid close contact with other people until the first test is negative.
- All measures therefore apply regardless of vaccination status.
- The obligations cease if it is later confirmed that the infection is not due to the virus variant omicron.
In the professional council that FHI and the Norwegian Directorate of Health have given to the government, it does not say anything about other measures, such as bandages.
FHI writes that there is currently too little knowledge about omikron to recommend fundamental changes in the Norwegian strategy now:
– For the time being, the National Institute of Public Health recommends simple measures with a low burden of measures to delay the introduction and spread of the omicron variant until more knowledge is available, FHI writes in its professional advice to the government.
- Not proven in Norway yet: The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) believes it is possible that the omikron variant has already arrived in Norway, but it has not yet been proven here. FHI writes to the government that it is probably futile and very expensive to shield Norway from the new variant.
- Unclear severity. FHI writes in a risk assessment from Sunday that it is likely that omikron is more contagious than delta, which dominates in Norway today, but that so far it is unlikely that omicron causes more serious disease.
On Saturday, it was also introduced a series of strict entry measures for eight African countries.
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