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New rules in Norway: here’s how to get a coronavirus test

The Local Norway
The Local Norway - [email protected]
New rules in Norway: here’s how to get a coronavirus test
File photo: AFP

From Wednesday, doctor’s referrals for a test are no longer required anywhere in Norway for people who suspect they may have coronavirus.

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If you think you might have coronavirus, you can now access testing in Norway without first contacting your doctor for a referral.

The Norwegian Directorate of Health’s Coronavirus Self-Checker (available in Norwegian and English) helps you to confirm whether you need a test based on questions about your symptoms, recent close contacts and travel.

Screengrab: Helsenorge.no

“It is now important that everyone who thinks they might be infected or has cold-like symptoms takes the opportunity to get tested. Corona testing is free and you receive the answer after one or two days by logging on to helsenorge.no,” vise-director of the Directorate of Health Espen Rostrup Nakstad told NRK.

Where do I go to get a test?

Testing is organised at municipality level, so you must contact your local municipality to arrange a test.

Oslo Municipality has not updated its website at the time of writing, but does offer a telephone number which can be called for guidance. Test in Bergen Municipality can be arranged via the municipality’s website, which has an English version.

The Helsenorge.no website states that you can call your GP, emergency room on telephone 116117 or check the website of the municipality you are in for information about local testing.

 

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“Bigger municipalities have test centres which coordinate (testing), in smaller municipalities it will be possible to take the corona test at doctors’ offices. Remember to always give notice in advance so that you don’t present at a waiting room or another place where you might expose others to infection,” Nakstad said.

Following testing, you should stay in your home until you have received a negative test result and are symptom-free.

Test results can be found – regardless of where you are in Norway – by logging in to the Helsenorge website here. If you test positive, you will be contacted by your doctor or the local municipality, Nakstad said.

“If you have been tested because of new respiratory symptoms or fever, you should stay home until you receive the test result. If you don’t have symptoms but have been tested because you have returned home from a ‘red country’, or because you have been in close contact with a sick person, you should stay at home until you have received the test result,”  the health authority vice director said to NRK.

READ ALSO: UPDATED: MAP: Which countries are open for tourism to and from Norway?

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