Representatives of the institute called not to dramatise the situation and explained that the person whose analysis for coronavirus showed a positive result was now healthy but continued to be quarantined at home. They did not name the gender and age of the patient.
"The test conducted today [Wednesday] shows a weakly positive result, while the previous test was negative. The test results show traces of coronavirus", Line Vold, director of the department for protection against infections and emergency preparedness at NIPH, said.
Institute representatives also said about 100 tests had been taken from residents of Norway, and only one of them turned out to be positive. Five people who recently returned from northern Italy, where the number of infected people has risen sharply, have also been tested and are waiting for results; they are quarantined.
As of Wednesday, COVID-19 has infected over 81,000 people worldwide with the death toll now over 2,700. It was first registered in the Chinese city of Wuhan, Hubei province, last December.