Støre puts his trust in the third vaccine dose, says he wants to avoid new lockdown

Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre announced a new effort to increase the administration of the third vaccine dose in Norway. It will reduce the number of hospital admissions, he says.

“If there is a common thread in my message, it is that vaccination works,” Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre (AP) said to Norwegian Broadcasting (NRK) on Tuesday morning.

“It can reduce the increase we have seen in admissions and provide good protection,” he noted.

No lockdown

At 10 o’clock, Støre will report to the Norwegian parliament (Storting) on the status and further course of the government’s handling of the corona crisis. A few hours later, at noon, the government will hold a press conference on new corona measures.

Støre does not want to reveal the measures yet but says that the most important thing is to ensure that the health service is equipped to tackle the infection and to prevent a new lockdown. Støre denies that there will be a new lockdown now.

“We can achieve this (our goals) through a powerful (effort to) administer the third dose of the vaccines,” Støre said.

Rejects broad measures

The Conservatives have recently criticized the government for being too passive in handling the crisis. At the same time, several politicians have called for stricter national measures.

Støre, for his part, believes that the most important thing is to enable the municipalities to introduce local measures.

“Broad measures for municipalities with very different infection situations are not wise,” Støre noted.

“I understand that people are anxious when they see that the infection is increasing. But the situation is very different than a year ago.” 

Closely following the omicron variant

Støre says that the government is closely following the new virus variant, omicron.

“We must take action against it. We’re working on this hour by hour to set up protections so that we can prevent and limit the spread if it comes to Norway,” Støre said.

The health authorities believe it is only a matter of time before the variant is confirmed in the country.

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

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