“The death toll has increased week by week now… we are falling behind in the fight against infection,” said the chief physician at the University Hospital of Northern Norway, Mats Gilbert. “The number of corona inpatients who need intensive care is higher than before, and it seems to be increasing”.
He also pointed out that even though Norway has high vaccination rates, it does not seem to stop the new variant from advancing. The corona pandemic has so far claimed 1,093 lives in Norway. About 17% of the deaths have occurred in the last month, the newspaper Klassekampen writes.
Norway, in terms of daily numbers, are seeing their highest ever casualty rates from Covid – up to 50 deaths on some days.
Norway and Denmark have both seen a steady increase in Covid deaths since early November, before the Omicron variant was discovered. Vaccine waning and seasonal effects on the Delta variant could be a cause, but a more infectious SARS-CoV-2 strain couldn’t have come at a worse time for either country.
