Big spike in new Covid cases

Yesterday’s round of 3,027 tests yielded a total of 98 positive results.

New cases were registered across the country, according to chief medical officer Lars Fodgaard Møller.

The daily numbers of positive tests over the past week have been as follows: 62, 62, 46, 62, 58, 41 and 98.

Eight people are currently receiving hospital treatment for Covid-19.

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The main reason for the big increase in cases from Sunday to yesterday was, according to Møller, that far more people were tested yesterday.

“Our testing sites were booked beyond capacity yesterday, so we can also expect many positive results from today’s testing,” he says.

“Covid-19 is circulating in the Faroes these days, and we do not currently have the capacity to accurately determine infection chains.”

Office Christmas parties

Many workplaces had their Christmas staff parties over the weekend, and Møller cannot rule out that this may be another key contributor to the spike in new cases.

“If you party with the people you normally work with, you are relatively safe. But if you work for a big company and all the staff attend the party, then obviously the risk increases.”

When asked whether it would be wisest to cancel any upcoming Christmas parties, Møller says that the epidemic commission will meet tomorrow to discuss how best to deal with the situation.

No Omicron yet, but “it will come”

No cases of the new Omicron variant have yet been registered in the Faroes.

“Eight positive test samples were this morning sent off to be sequenced for Omicron,” he says.

“There are many Omicron cases in Denmark. It will arrive here at some point too, and we want to catch it as early as possible”.

For further information about Covid-19 in the Faroes, including daily figures, visit corona.fo.

Read the Faroese version of this article here.

More Faroese News in English.