COVID-19 pandemic in Norway
The COVID-19 pandemic in Norway is part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2. On 26 February 2020, the virus was confirmed to have spread to Norway. The number of cases increased rapidly during the month of March, thereby necessitating a number of safety measures aiming to achieve physical distancing to be introduced on 12 March. The first death attributed to COVID-19 was documented on the same day. Most confirmed cases that were traced to outside Norway were Norwegian tourists returning from Austria and Italy.
Norway has performed 420,528 tests and reported 9,111 confirmed cases and 255 deaths.
A senior Norwegian Institute of Public Health consultant said one of the major reasons why the mortality rate was significantly lower than in other European countries was the high number of tests performed in Norway.
Background
On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, who had initially come to the attention of the WHO on 31 December 2019.Unlike SARS of 2003, the case fatality ratio for COVID-19 has been much lower, but the transmission has been significantly greater, with a significant total death toll.
Timeline
February 2020
On 26 February, Norway confirmed the first case of COVID-19. The Norwegian Institute of Public Health announced that someone tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 after returning from China the previous week. The female patient was asymptomatic and in good health. She underwent a voluntary isolation at her home in Tromsø.On 27 February, the Norway Institute of Public Health announced that three more people were confirmed positive for SARS-CoV-2. Two of them lived in Oslo and were linked to the outbreak in Italy. The other lived in Bærum and was linked to the outbreak in Iran. All of them underwent a voluntary isolation at home.
On 28 February, an individual from Bergen and an employee of Oslo University Hospital, Ullevål, tested positive and were placed in home isolation. Both had visited Northern Italy. 6 cases were confirmed in the country on the day. On 29 February, there were 15 confirmed cases in Norway.
March 2020
By 1 March, a total of 19 cases were confirmed. Bjørn Atle Bjørnbeth, the Chief of the Ullevål hospital in Oslo, informed that there are potentially over 100 people who came in contact with an infected staff member.On 3 March, there were 25 confirmed cases in Norway, with 5 from Vestland. An employee at the kjøpesenteret Horisont in Åsane is confirmed to have been infected by the virus, says center manager Lise Færøvik. Until this time, most cases are imported from Italy, and none of the cases are seriously ill thus all self-quarantined at home. A worst case is evaluated with a quarter of the Norwegian population infected, and measures are being taken by the governments to handle 1 million people.
On 4 March, there were 56 confirmed cases in Norway, all of which are linked to known outbreaks abroad. So far only some few of those have been infected in Norway.
By 10 March, the number of confirmed cases in Norway had spiked to 400, and a rising number of those cases could not be traced to foreign travel or any known person infected, indicating community transmission had started in Norway.
On 12 March, a national lockdown was announced, effective from 18:00 the same day. For two weeks, schools, kindergartens, fitness centres, hair salons etc. were closed. Sports and cultural events and gatherings were banned and restrictions applied to restaurants. These measures were in line with the those introduced in other European countries such as Denmark and Italy. The same day Norway had its first death due to the COVID-19 virus. The victim was an elderly person who died at Oslo University Hospital.
As of 13 March, Norway introduced a ban on visits to Norway through Oslo airport. Norwegian and Nordic citizens, foreign residents in Norway and people continuing to another country are allowed anyway. Other people are dismissed and sent home as soon as possible and put in quarantine until then.
On 16 March this was extended to all borders of Norway and Nordic non-Norwegian citizens. Domestic travel continues without any restriction. On 14 March, the second and third deaths caused by COVID-19 were reported.
April 2020
On 6 April, the Norwegian Health Minister announced that the outbreak was "under control" and that the reproduction rate of Sars-CoV-2 had dwindled to 0.7 in the country.Prevention measures and response
The Norwegian Directorate of Health introduced a number of measures from Thursday 12 March 2020:- All educational institutions were closed and organized sports activities were to be discontinued.
- A number of events and businesses were closed, including cultural events, sports events, gyms and swimming pools. All establishments in the hospitality industry such as bars, pubs and clubs other than those serving food were to close, and any establishment serving food would have to ensure that visitors could stay at least 1 meter apart.
- Healthcare professionals working with patient care were prohibited from traveling abroad until 20 April 2020. The ban applied to both business travel and private travel.
- Everyone who had returned from trips outside Sweden and Finland since 27 February were to quarantine, regardless of whether they showed symptoms or not.
- Leisure travel was strongly discouraged. The Directorate discouraged travelling to work unless strictly necessary and encouraged avoiding public transport if possible, as well as avoiding crowded places.
- People were requested not to visit others in institutions with vulnerable groups and generally encouraged to limiting close contact with others.
- The public transport schedule was to run as normal, to ensure that people with critical social functions could get to and from work and be able to distance themselves from each other.
As of 19 March, residents were prohibited from staying in cabins outside their home municipalities, in order to avoid putting strain on rural medical infrastructure. People suspected or confirmed to be infected must follow stricter home isolation rules. The government established fines for people violating home quarantine and home isolation rules or organizing events.