Høie asks Norwegian municipalities to finalize corona vaccination before the start of the flu season

From the end of September, the municipalities will scale down infection detection activities. But they need to make sure that the vaccination is finalized before the flu season starts.

At Friday’s corona press conference, Minister of Health Bent Høie said that downgraded TISK (testing, isolation, infection tracking, and quarantine) would be introduced from September 27.

“More and more people have been fully vaccinated, and the infection seems to be flattening out. However, there will still be a need for some testing, isolation, infection tracking, and quarantine for a while longer,” Høie said at the government’s press conference on Friday.

Transition period

The scaled-down TISK means that fewer people will be quarantined and that the municipalities will carry out fewer infection detection activities.

The government wants to keep in place such a transitional period for about four weeks. After that, it will likely move on to “a normal situation with increased preparedness.”

The municipalities are expected to be able to distribute rapid tests to 10% of the population and to be able to carry out tests of 1% of the population themselves. If the infection increases, the municipalities must be able to increase the capacity to test 5% a week within five days.

Increased preparedness over the winter

On Friday, Høie met with the country’s mayors to discuss the level of preparedness in the future.

“As we return to normal, the current level of preparedness must be maintained until the new year, and perhaps into the winter,” he said.

Høie pointed out that society would never get rid of corona and that people would get sick in the future.

Corona could not be compared to the flu in the past because the population was unprotected, and there was no vaccine. But that has now changed, and we can thus gradually return to a normal everyday life, he said.

In a normal season, around 900 people die from the flu. Therefore, the minister urged municipalities to complete the corona vaccination by week 40 so that they are on target before the flu season starts.

Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews

Do you have a news tip for Norway Today? We want to hear it. Get in touch at [email protected]