The Minister of Health and Welfare Ingvild Kjerkol allows people who have taken three or two doses of the vaccine in the last three months and have had a coronavirus infection to avoid a confirmatory PCR test. This means that in the event of a positive self-test result, these people do not need to go to the test station, but it is desirable that they use the self-test recording solutions. The reason for the changes is that the rapidly growing infection is jeopardizing the test capacity of municipalities.
– We asked Norwegian Directorate of Health and the National Institute of Public Health to evaluate the testing system on January 20, with a deadline of today, January 21. It is clear from the responses that we can now open up to those who have received three doses of the vaccine or who have received two doses and have had an infection in the last three months. These people do not need to undergo a confirmatory PCR test. Based on the agency's response, I have tasked the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the National Institute of Public Health to soon enter into dialogue with municipalities and update recommendations on who should be offered confirmatory PCR tests, says Minister of Health and Healthcare Ingvild Kjerkol.
Almost 2,5 million people have already taken the third dose. In addition, there are some who have received two doses and have had an infection in the past three months. This constitutes a large part of the population and the change will relieve the municipalities. For this group, the change will not affect the status of the crown certificate as it is already considered a fully vaccinated group.
Self registration is important
We encourage everyone who passes the self-tests to register in their municipalities. This self-registration is important to the authorities health service could continue to monitor the infection situation. So far, 132 communes with a total population of 4 million have such a solution. Soon, KS will offer a similar solution for those municipalities that do not have it. Thanks to this Norwegian Directorate of Health will be able to monitor the situation.
