Up to a hundred infected after Christmas dinner in Oslo - half probably have omikron
FHI's Line Vold says that all those who participated in the super-spreader Christmas table in Oslo are treated as if they have an omikron.
In a press release, FHI writes that this includes
two cases in Øygarden municipality , 13 confirmed cases related to the Christmas table in Oslo and four travelers to Oslo Airport Gardermoen from South Africa.
A super-spreader Christmas table in Oslo last weekend thus accounts for 13 of the omikron cases. In total, between 90 and 100 people are infected after the Christmas table.
- Is it likely that everyone has omikron?
- We do not know yet until we have received the answers to all the screenings. There is a high infection pressure in Oslo now, and it has been delta that has been the dominant variant until now. So it is not unnatural to think that there is participation here as well, says district doctor Tine Ravlo to NRK.
According to Ravlo, around half of those infected in Oslo probably have omicrons after screening the samples. The rest is waiting for the municipality to clarify.
Ravnlo emphasizes that all those affected have done everything right, and that anyone could have been infected.
In the Vestre Aker district in Oslo, coronary heart disease has also been detected in connection with a conference arranged by Abelia, writes NTB. The district superintendent there says there is reason to suspect omikron.
Also in Bodø, the infection control doctor suspects cases of the variant.
No increase in admissions
FHI is working on analyzing positive coronavirus samples, to see which variant they are. Department director Line Vold in FHI believes it is likely that the infected who participated in the Christmas table have omikron.
- There are many suspects infected with omicron in this outbreak, and they are treated as omicron-infected to reduce the risk of further spread, Vold says to NRK.
Friday was the third time this week with a peak of infection. At that time, 4191 cases were registered in Norway. The weekly figures also show that the infection trend is rising sharply.
On Friday, 262 corona patients were hospitalized. There were as many as the day before. 68 of the patients are in the intensive care unit, and among them 45 are on a respirator.
There are four more on intensive care and six more on a respirator compared with the day before, according to the Norwegian Directorate of Health's overview.
On Thursday,
new infection measures were introduced throughout the country , with extra strict measures in several municipalities in Eastern Norway.
New injunctions have also been introduced in the Bergen area.
According to FHI's department director Line Vold, it is too early to say whether the omicron variant has a milder course of disease than other variants.
- There were some reports that you see that it is a milder process, and then we do not know for sure how much confidence we can attach to it. Because in South Africa where there is the most infection now, the composition of the population is quite different than in Norway and Europe, says Vold.
Know little about new variant
Earlier today,
Aftenposten wrote that FHI believes the measures have a "limited effect" on the omicron variant.
Violence emphasizes that FHI believes the measures have an effect, but that they believe it is likely that this variant will be dominant in Norway, measures or not.
- What we point out is that the experience from the alpha and delta variant is that even if you introduce quite intrusive measures, it is limited how much you can delay that a more contagious variant takes over, says Vold.
The Omikron variant is causing concern both in Norway and the rest of the world. So far, the variant has been
discovered in over 40 countries.
Assistant director of health Espen Nakstad says there is still much that is not known about the omicron variant.
- What you start to be sure of is that this variant is more contagious than the delta variant, it seems, says Nakstad.
At the same time, he says that there is still uncertainty about whether the vaccine protects against serious illness.
- But it seems that it does not fully protect against being infected. That's probably where we stand right now. And the outbreak in Oslo indicates that many fully vaccinated can be infected, unfortunately.
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