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COVID-19

Coronavirus: Norwegians told to leave countryside cabins and return home

The Norwegian government has set out a new coronavirus regulation to stop people staying in countryside cabins that are in a different municipality from where they live.

Published: 15 March 2020 11:40 CET
Coronavirus: Norwegians told to leave countryside cabins and return home
Illustration photo: AFP

People in Norway have been told to leave their countryside cabins and return to their homes as soon as possible, according to Norwegian media NRK.

It is feared rural hospitals could be overwhelmed, if many people are staying in cabins that are in a different area from where they live.

The municipalities that have many cottages should be able to take care of their own inhabitants in a very demanding situation, health minister Bent Høie reportedly said.

“This means that everyone now has to follow the strong request of the prime minister to pack their cases and go home. If they do not, we will prohibit them from staying in the cabin.”

Prime minister Erna Solberg has said the government will deploy the civil defence to bring people home from their cabins if necessary.

It comes as a second person in Norway has died from the coronavirus. An elderly patient infected with Covid-19 died on Saturday night, according to Oslo University Hospital.

Health authorities in Norway have now recorded 907 people in the country as being infected with the coronavirus.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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