Cases of non-corona infectious diseases drop by 53%. Experts believe its due to the pandemic
In the last two weeks of October, half as many cases of other infectious diseases were reported as in the same period last year.
Between October 16 and October 31 last year, a total of 1,092 cases of infectious diseases other than corona were reported.
This year, only 508 cases were reported, according to Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK).
The National Institute of Public Health (FHI) has published a report showing a decrease of 53%.
Previously, the institute thought that the decline is related to the infection control measures, but now they believe there may be several reasons for the drop.
Anti-infection measures
“We believe that increased attention to hand hygiene and other infection control measures have an effect on diseases other than COVID-19.
“Additionally, there is great pressure on the testing capacities, so that may have led to less testing for other infectious diseases,” department director Line Vold at FHI noted.
This especially applies to pertussis, where the decline is as much as 98% – and the FHI is worried, as the symptoms of pertussis can be similar to coronavirus symptoms.
One third of the decline can be explained by less travel activity.
Last year, 350 cases were travel-related, compared with 31 cases this year.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
