By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

According to an updated risk assessment from NIPH, The Delta variant of the coronavirus can take over in Norway during the summer.

Image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay

The Delta variant of the coronavirus has increased rapidly in Norway, but not as rapidly as the Alpha variant when it took over.

The total number of cases is still low, but has been increasing from week to week. Delta’s share averages over the past 4 weeks of approximately 6.4%, up from 1.4% from the previous risk assessment on 16 June.

Officials say good infection control work in the municipalities can help to delay the spread of this variant in Norway and bring any outbreaks under control. Good vaccination coverage contributes. Nevertheless, Delta is a new and important challenge that requires close monitoring, careful assessment of the level of measures and good compliance with measures. As an increasing proportion of the population has been vaccinated, the danger of Delta being able to bring the epidemic in Norway out of control decreases, says director Camilla Stoltenberg in FHI.

Concerning vaccination, the protection against serious illness with the Delta variant is high already after one dose.

Those with the greatest risk of a serious course of covid-19 are now largely fully vaccinated in Norway, and this means that we are better equipped against Delta than we were against the Alpha variant, says Stoltenberg.

Preliminary data indicate that administration of just one dose mRNA vaccine appears to protect some less against mild disease caused Delta than Alpha, but protection is very good after two doses.