Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Tuesday 

Woman dead after stabbing at NAV office. 

One woman has been left dead, and another has been injured after a stabbing at a Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV) office in Bergen. 

The two women that were attacked were NAV employees, and the attack took place at around 10am on Monday at the NAV office near Danmarks Plass in the centre of the city on Norway’s west coast. 

“The police have received confirmation from Haukeland University Hospital that one of the two injured after the knife attack on NAV Årstad today died from the injuries she suffered,” the police said in a statement. 

The deceased is a woman in her 50s, while the victim that was injured is in her 30s. Police have arrested the attacker. 

NIPH: We can now begin to compare Covid to seasonal flu

The status of coronavirus in Norway is being downgraded to a respiratory disease with seasonal variation, Geir Bukholm, assistant director of the Norwegian Institute of Public Health, has told newspaper VG. 

“We are now in a new phase where we must look at the coronavirus as one of several respiratory diseases with seasonal variation,” Bukholm told the paper. 

The reason for this new status is that most people who are vulnerable to developing severe Covid-19 disease are fully vaccinated. 

READ ALSO: Norway expects more children with respiratory illnesses this winter

The high vaccine coverage means that those protected against the virus will only develop mild flu-like symptoms in most cases if they catch coronavirus. 

As a result, Covid-19 joins the ranks of other diseases such as colds and seasonal flu. 

Bukholm did warn that the downgrading in severity didn’t mean the pandemic was over. 

Formal talks over forming a government to begin on Thursday

On Thursday, the Labour Party, Centre Party, and Socialist Left Party will convene and begin the early negotiations for forming a coalition government. 

The Centre Party also announced yesterday that it would sit at the negotiation with the Socialist Left Party despite maintaining that they wouldn’t govern with the party throughout the election campaign. 

The three leaders of the parties have welcomed the talks. 

Election was last roll of the dice for Støre 

Labour leader Jonas Gahr Støre has admitted that last weeks election was his last shot at becoming Prime Minister of Norway. 

“I understood that this was my last chance. You can not do this over and over again. Then the right thing to do after so many runs is to walk away,” he told newspaper VG. 

READ ALSO: Who is Jonas Gahr Store, Norway’s likely new prime minister?

Despite Labour turning in its second-worst ever set of results, Støre said that the election was a success as the party can form a majority coalition and has the highest number of seats. 

679 new cases of Covid-19 infection 

On Monday, 679 new cases of Covid-19 were registered in Norway. This is 192 cases less than the average for the previous seven days, which is 871. 

In Oslo, 184 infections were recorded on Monday, which is 23 more than on Sunday. 

Total number of Covid-19 cases in Norway. Source: Norwegian Institute of Public Health.