COPENHAGEN/OSLO (Dagbladet): The Omikron variant is so infectious that it would be difficult to Avoid to contract the virus during the winter season.
Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institute (SSI), tells Dagbladet.
It is much more contagious than the delta variant, and it also affects vaccinated people. People who have been vaccinated seem to get mild or asymptomatic infections, which is fine, but mild and asymptomatic infections can also spread to others. At some point, it will be difficult to get around someone Not Injured. Then it will be hard to avoid infection on your own, Ollum says.
asks for work
SSI is Denmark’s answer to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). And on Thursday evening, the SSI and other Danish health authorities participated in a press conference in which they described the case of Corona in Denmark as “alarming” and “serious.”
In the past 24 hours, Denmark recorded exactly 9,999 new cases of infection. Of those, 2,962 omicron cases have been confirmed. This is a sharp increase since the first case of the omicron was discovered.
Unless we do something, the infection will continue to rise. Ulum said at the press conference attended by Dagbladet that the number of omicron cases is doubling every day.
Warning: Henrik Ullum, director of the Statens Serum Institute, warns that it will be difficult to avoid oomicron infection this winter. Photo: Christian Rieder Nielsen / Dagbladet
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For Dagbladet, Ullum was clear that an omicron infection could not be stopped. So the goal of health authorities is to reduce infection, so that the capacity is not blown.
– If the wave becomes very large and appears suddenly, then the load will be enormous. This applies to all of our social functions. We need this to happen slower.
How do you evaluate the measures taken by the Norwegian authorities?
– Our task is to advise the Danish government, but in this work we have of course looked at the Norwegian strategy. I think that every country should be allowed to choose the strategy that it thinks is best. I will not go into this to compare the Danish strategy to the Norwegian strategy.
– very important
The most important measure Denmark is now investing in, like Norway, is to vaccinate as many people as possible with a third dose of the vaccine before the numbers of omicrons spike.
Some studies suggest that a booster dose may increase protection against infection, but the third dose essentially reduces the risk of serious illness.
Preliminary data from South Africa shows that there is less risk of serious illness from the omicron variant, but early in the wave one can underestimate its severity. Nor can we compare Danish and Norwegian society to South Africa. South Africa has a younger population that has seen big waves across the epidemic, and has a higher degree of immunity in the population. We have to make our own experiences and we must first plan for a huge burden on our health care system.
Norway is unfortunate
If it becomes difficult to avoid omicron during the winter, why is it important to get a third dose of the vaccine?
– It’s very important. This is also a very important time for those who are considering getting vaccinated or not. Now is the time to make that decision, because all of a sudden you can get infected. The best advice I can give to the segment of the population that has hitherto been reluctant and waiting to be vaccinated is to make that choice now. If the virus does not make that choice for you, Olom answers you.
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Denmark ranks first in the world in corona tests and corona samples sequencing. Only in this way can the omikron variant be detected – for now.
Therefore, Denmark also has a much better basis for monitoring omicron spread.
To other countries with poor ability to sequence and monitor omicron spread, Olume has a clear message:
I’m afraid of Norway
Unfortunately, analyzes and sequencing do not solve the problem. In those countries that do not have an overview of the amount of oomicron infection they have, one should consider it potentially significant, and act accordingly.
A few hours before Thursday evening’s press conference, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen came out He said that there was once again a need for strict measures in Denmark.
On Friday morning, the Frederiksen government will meet with the other parties in Folketing to solidify measures. The new measures are expected to be announced later on Friday.
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