20 January: The City Government will allow training and leisure activities for children
Press release: The levels of infection in Oslo are still serious, so the City Government will extend the social lockdown. At the same time, indoor training and leisure activities for children of kindergarten and primary school age will be allowed again.
- Les denne pressemeldingen på norsk
- The content of this press release may be out of date. See Advice and rules in the City of Oslo for the measures that apply.
«Many European countries now face an extremely challenging situation, with infection levels galloping ahead and health services on the verge of collapse. I am pleased to be able to say that we still have good control in Oslo. We can see that our measures are working. At the same time, infection rates were high at the start of the year, so we have to extend the social lockdown. Meanwhile, I am pleased to reduce the restrictive measures for children, and we will consider a further easing of restrictions in the near future as long as the infection rates go down,” said City Governor Raymond Johansen (Labour).
The City Government’s decision means that indoor training and leisure activities for children can be organised from Thursday 21st January at 12 o’clock. Youth clubs can also stay open with a maximum of 20 at a time, besides the staff.
Secondary schools and high schools will remain at the red risk level but, if infection levels continues to fall, the City Government will consider changing secondary schools to the yellow risk level, as well as allowing leisure activities for secondary school pupils.
For the time being, the measures will continue until 4th February, but the City Government will review the infection situation and consider some easing as early as next week.
Race between infections and the vaccine
While Oslo had a daily average of 159 new cases during the first week in January, the number was 119 in the second week. The group which has been infected most is young adults in their twenties. Households are by far the most common place for getting infected, followed by workplaces. The City still has good capacity for testing, and a total of 19,855 people were tested in the first week of January, and 15,891 in the second week.
The City of Oslo has capacity to give 110,000 vaccine doses per week, and is progressing with vaccinating people who live at home.
«We have very nearly completed vaccinating everyone in nursing homes with two doses. This means that we will be able to keep down the infections in nursing homes. At the same time, we have very good capacity to vaccinate large numbers in the rest of the population, but we of course depend on receiving enough doses of the vaccine. We must win this race – especially when we can see the final stretch of a marathon which has gone on for over 10 months,” said the Vice Mayor for Health, Ageing and Municipal Services, Robert Steen (Labour).
Contact
Press contact
media@byr.oslo.kommune.no / +47 99 28 90 90 (not SMS)
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