The social closure of Oslo will be extended until 14 December. – We have no guarantee that the infection is over, says City Councilor Raymond Johansen.
The City of Oslo is currently continuing the measures that apply in Oslo for the next two weeks. This means, among other things, a stop to drinking, a red level in upper secondary schools and limited social contact.
– Most indicate that we must live with the measures until 2020, says City Councilor Raymond Johansen during today’s press conference on the corona situation in Oslo.
The spread of infection in the capital is still high. In the last 24 hours, 176 new cases of infection have been registered in Oslo. That is 14 more than the day before.
– Even though the infection rates in the city seem to be flattening out, I am worried about the infection in some parts of the city, says Johansen.
It is still the districts of Grorud and Bjerke that have the highest infection pressure. The city council leader expresses concern that the epicenter is in the eastern parts of the city.
He says that communication work is being done to send out information to the entire population. – We know that not everyone speaks Norwegian so well, and that not everyone follows the news.
Will avoid closing schools
The City Council is concerned that the infection among children and young people in the capital is increasing. Therefore, the red level is continued in upper secondary school, and the yellow level is introduced in primary schools.
– We do not want to close the schools, but we are looking at the situation, says Johansen who emphasizes that everyone’s right to education must be secured during the pandemic.
Oslo Municipality will avoid closing schools, but consider targeted measures in some districts.
– Why have you not set the primary schools up to the red level?
– Red level does not mean closure, but major restrictions. This means that AKS must mainly be at home. We try to have targeted measures at the yellow level, says Johansen.
Yellow level means that the students they will still be in school, but that the students will be separated and in cohorts.
School councilor Inga Marte Thorkildsen says that the development of infection among children is closely monitored:
– We ask all primary schools to bring up contingency plans in case of transition, says school councilor Inga Marte Thorkildsen (SV).
Thorkildsen also says that the municipality also assesses the red level in kindergartens, but that the infection is lower there.
Reason for optimism
The infection is still increasing in Oslo. The measures have led to a positive trend where infection has decreased, but the infection pressure is still high.
– I had hoped that the measures had gone down somewhat. It is positive, but not enough to ease the measures, Johansen believes.
He emphasizes that he is happy that the police are following up on breaches of the infection control rules.
– If you break the infection control rules, you risk being prosecuted.
The last two rounds of austerity measures in Oslo were initially to last until the end of November, which means until Monday next week.
If infection rates continue to fall, the city council has previously said that there may be relief on the measures in December.
Continues national measures
During the government’s press conference on Wednesday, it became clear that the national corona measures will be continued for at least another three weeks.
It is only four weeks until the Christmas peace subsides, and for many it is a bit urgent to plan the celebration. The goal of the government is that we should be able to celebrate as normal a Christmas as possible.
– We need more time, and we must see a clear decline in infection to consider opening. We must therefore live with the measures we have for another three weeks, said Prime Minister Erna Solberg on Wednesday.
