People with COVID-19 may be birth partners and visit people who are seriously ill

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People with COVID-19 may be birth partners and visit seriously ill family who are in hospital. It must be possible to organise visits in accordance with COVID-19 precautions, and they must be agreed with the ward.

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‘It is important to have your next-of-kin with you in special situations like childbirth or serious illness. This is why we are making arrangements for partners who have a confirmed case of COVID-19 to participate in childbirth and for next-of-kin to visit family who are seriously ill or dying, even though the next-of-kin is infected. This also applies in cases where the patient has a confirmed case of COVID-19,’ says Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol.

Throughout the pandemic, the health and care service has gained considerable experience with handling COVID-19 and preventing transmission within the service. Most cases of infection in the health service have been the result of transmission from people who did not know that they were infected. There have been few reports of transmission from known cases of COVID-19.

This indicates that there are good infection control measures in place in the health and care service to deal with known cases of COVID-19. This is why the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health are of the opinion that allowing in visitors or partners with a confirmed case of COVID-19 will have very little impact on transmission or the risk of infection in the health service.

Next-of-kin or partners with COVID-19 must contact the institution in advance and get permission to visit. They must also follow the recommendations they are given.