Nordic Life Science 1
PHOTO ESTEN BORGOS Bent Høie, Minister of Health
and Care Services in Norway and/or animal studies. At least 22 Norwegian hospitals will be included in the international study and around 1,000 Norwegian patients could be included in the trial. “The goal is to decrease the spread of the virus and limit the number of infected people, reduce the pressure on healthcare, the number of seriously ill patients and the number of deaths. Our goal is also to win time in the race towards a vaccine and towards improved treatments,” said Bent Høie, Minister of Health and Care Services in Norway to NRK. There are also a number of digital solutions to cope with the new conditions caused by the new coronavirus. Events are delivered digitally, board meetings are held online and companies are developing solutions to handle everything from mental health to unburdening healthcare workers. For example, the digital health company SidekickHealth in cooperation with Icelandic health authorities and the gaming company CCP has developed a solution that allows health professionals to monitor the condition of COVID-19 patients through a telephone app. It is based on the self reporting of the patient, which saves time and endless telephone calls from health professionals. The app allows health professionals to step in if the conditions of the patient gets worse, and for example to ask the patient to come to hospital or call an ambulance. The projects mentioned in this article are examples of ongoing Nordic efforts to fight COVID-19, summarized at the end of March 2020. When this magazine is published there will probably be more projects and more developments. For more updates, visit nordiclifescience.org. NLS