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  • Newly-arisen respiratory tract symptoms, COVID-19 testing and positive test results

Coronavirus - facts, advice and measures

Newly-arisen respiratory tract symptoms, COVID-19 testing and positive test results

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Symptoms of respiratory tract infections can begin with vague symptoms such as headache and blocked nose or more classic influenza-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and feeling unwell. A variety of viruses and bacteria can cause these infections.

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Symptoms of respiratory tract infections can begin with vague symptoms such as headache and blocked nose or more classic influenza-like symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and feeling unwell. A variety of viruses and bacteria can cause these infections.

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Symptoms of respiratory tract infection can begin with vague symptoms such as headache and stuffy nose, or symptoms such as fever, cough, sore throat and impaired general condition. Many different viruses and bacteria can cause respiratory infections.

What should you do with newly arisen respiratory tract symptoms?

  • Stay home with newly-arisen respiratory tract symptoms if you feel unwell. You do not normally need to test yourself, but you should stay at home until you feel better.
  • For certain groups with a higher risk of developing serious disease, drug treatment may be appropriate. This is described in this article: About coronavirus testing.
  • Mild residual symptoms such as runny nose, mucus, hoarseness and some coughing are fine.
  • Contact your doctor if you are concerned about your own health or that of your child.
  • To reduce the risk of infecting others, you should have good hand hygiene and cough etiquette.
  • Avoid contact with people at risk when you have newly arisen respiratory tract symptoms.
  • Families with newborns and babies should avoid visitors with respiratory tract symptoms.
  • If you have taken a test that comes back positive for COVID-19, the same advice applies: Stay at home if you feel unwell.
  • For people at risk, other advice may apply: 
  • Advice for pregnant women:
  • If you work in healthcare, you should follow advice from your work place and NIPH's advice for health services.
  • More about COVID-19 Certificate

History

09.12.2022: adjustment of text about risk groups and medical treatment

06.04.2022: Updated according to changes in advice.

24.02.2022: Reference to chapter on children and adolescents regarding testing of children / adolescents in connection with vaccination or for COVID-19 certificate.

14.02.2022: Collected information about newly-arisen respiratory tract symptoms, testing for covid-19 and positive test in connection with changes 12.02.22.

02.02.2022: Flowchart update.

24.01.2022: Flowchart update.

14.01.2022: Updated according to changes in regulations.

21.12.2021: Text about taking a test has been moved to its own article When you shall take a coronavirus test

15.12.2021: Updated according to changes in regulations 14.12.2021

10.12.2021: Updated flow chart

08.12.2021: Updated information about tests in "About your coronavirus test"

23.11.2021: Flow chart was updated on 19th Nov. Added a link to the information sheet "To you who have taken a coronavirus test" and added advice on contacting close contacts in the event of a positive test

11.11.2021: New sentence: Vaccinated people may only have mild cold symptoms with COVID-19.

09.11.2021: Added link to advice about childcare and school

14.10.2021: Added link with advice for employees in the health and care sector.

30.09.2021: Updated advice for adults / adolescents to test for SARS-CoV-2 in case of vague symptoms, but in case of negative test you can go to work / school the same day. In case of worsening, one should go home and consider a new test. Advice regarding children can be found in a separate chapter.

25.09.2021: Revised and adapted advice about normal daily life with increased preparedness.

09.09.2021: Some clarifications in the text.

31.08.2021: Added points about rapid antigen tests

01.07.2021: Removed sentence about waiting quarantine after change in COVID-19 regulations

18.06.2021: Minor text revision. Added If you are in quarantine as a close contact, testing is recommended even if you have no symptoms. Then those you live with must be in waiting quarantine until a negative test result is available.

11.05.2021: New paragraph about after having Covid-19

14.02.2021: Removed the specific symptoms in "What should you do while waiting for your test results?" and emphasised that the main rule is to stay at home.

08.02.2021 Added section "If you have symptoms after coronavirus vaccination"

04.02.2021: Added text about testing and treatment for people who are staying in Norway

07.01.2021: Clarified that all with suspicion of COVID-19 should be tested

18.12.2020: Changed sentence from "If you are in doubt that you are ill, go to koronasjekk.no" to "If you suspect you are infected you should be tested"

01.12.2020: Adjusted title and restructured content in article

14.09.2020: Updated text according to Norwegian version. Edited text in "when you have a respiratory tract infection". Removed "when household members have respiratory tract infection" and "when children have respiratory tract infection" because there was much repetition.

08.09.2020: Changes in "When a household member has an acute respiratory tract infection"; inserted a lenk to "When you have an acute respiratory tract infection" for details on how to act if household member develop symptoms of respiratory tract infection.

04.09.2020: Changes to paragraph about "when you have a respiratory tract infection": It is recommended that anyone with newly-arisen respiratory tract symptoms without a known cause should be tested, and they should stay home until they receive a test result. With a negative test result, you can return to work/ school when you are in good general condition (i.e. you feel well and have no fever), even though you have some symptoms.  

28.08.2020: Section about Children with respiratory tract infections has been updated.

27.08.2020: Changed from "children under 10 years" to "Children of primary school age or younger." Added that "children can return to school/childcare when their general condition is good /back to normal for the child."

24.08.2020: Updated to reflect the current Norwegian version

24.06.2020: Replaced the advice about "stay at home until a day after the symptoms have passed" to "stay at home until the symptoms have passed" for people with respiratory tract infection symptoms.

04.05.2020
Shortened first paragraph under "When you have an acute respiratory tract infection."

30.04.2020
General changes as per Norwegian text.

06.04.2020
Updated according to changes in Norwegian text. Changes throughout.

02.04.2020

Added link to test criteria page which is now translated to English. Removed the paragraph about the test criteria.

22.03.2020

Updated test criteria and added section about "Why can people with symptoms but who are not tested for coronavirus go back to work after one symptom-free day, while people with confirmed COVID-19 must wait for seven symptom-free days?"