The Norwegian Health Directorate and the FHI state unequivocally that the coronavirus epidemic is no longer a serious threat of a dangerous infectious disease and want to give municipalities more power.
It seems that in based o professional basics they communicated their views to the Ministry of Health and Healthcare.
At the same time, the Norwegian Health Directorate and the National Institute of Public Health (FHI) recommend that covid-19 should continue to be defined as a generally dangerous infectious disease.
Covid-19 was defined as a generally contagious disease on January 31, 2020 and listed in the regulations for generally contagious communicable diseases. On March 3, 2020, the disease was also recognized as a serious epidemic of a generally dangerous infectious disease.
. FHI: The threat is much lower
According to the act on infectious diseases, the latter is defined as "an outbreak or danger of a pandemic that requires particularly extensive measures". On an academic basis, the National Institute of Public Health says the authorities' strategy against the coronavirus was changed in September, and the epidemic no longer requires "particularly comprehensive measures."
- The threat is much smaller, they write.
Therefore, the FHI believes that a more dynamic application of the law is appropriate and that removing this mark now gives the correct signal effect.
- It must be emphasized, however, that the pandemic is not over yet, and we in Norway are still in an emergency, ie "normal everyday life with increased attention" with a separate national contingency plan from the government - they write.
Municipalities can gain more power
The most important consequence of such a change is that only the communes themselves will have the power to make decisions pursuant to Art. 4-1 of the Infection Control Act.
This includes, but is not limited to, meeting bans, company closures, communication restrictions, isolation and infection control when necessary to prevent a generally dangerous infectious disease or to prevent infection.
Norwegian Directorate of Health stresses in its assessment that if there was a need to apply national measures or to apply mandate provisions that require the determination of an epidemic as serious, a decision on this matter could be taken quickly.
Source: NTB
Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB
Read our next article: 77 Norwegians have received their third dose of the vaccine
