COPENHAGEN, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Norwegian health authorities will focus more on the rate of vaccinations and hospital admissions in the fight against COVID-19, Minister of Health and Care Services Bent Hoie told a press conference in Oslo on Wednesday.
The decision came as Norway had seen a sharp increase in infections since summer.
During the past 24 hours, Norway registered 1,704 new cases of COVID-19, considerably higher than the average 1,428 daily cases registered during the past seven days, according to an updated weekly report from NIPH (Norwegian Institute of Public Health).
NIPH has registered a total of 170,166 cases and 826 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic.
"We are more preoccupied with how many (people) are being admitted to hospital and how many have been vaccinated," Hoie said.
Health authorities are also monitoring closely the growing infection rates among children and young people.
According to Bjorn Guldvog, director general of health and chief medical officer in Norway, infections among children between the ages of six and twelve rose 54 percent last week, and 33 percent among teenagers. Therefore, more testing is needed in schools and other heavily crowded places.
Hoie highlighted the vulnerability of children below the age of 12, for whom no vaccine has been approved yet.
"It is important to prevent unvaccinated people, such as children under the age of 12, from becoming infected with the virus," he said.
According to NIPH, 3,916,966 people, 89.7 percent of Norway's adult population have started the COVID-19 vaccination process. Of them, 3,314,151 people have been fully vaccinated. Enditem
