These are Norway’s coronavirus restrictions from January 4th

Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a briefing on Sunday that there were signs that “a new wave of infection is on the way”, newspaper VG reports.

“I would like to have wished you a Happy New Year, but the new year has unfortunately not started the way we had hoped,” Solberg said.

The following restrictions are effective from Monday January 4th and are scheduled to remain in place for two weeks, until January 18th.

• Maximum five people allowed at private gatherings outside of own home, for example a birthday celebration at rented premises
• Maximum ten people allowed to attend indoor sports events, cultural events, seminars, ceremonies and similar, but up to 200 people where spectators have fixed seats. Funerals are excepted: up to 50 people may attend without the fixed seat requirement
• A national ban on serving alcohol at all businesses and events.

The following new recommendations and advisories also take effect for the next two weeks:

• Avoid receiving guests at home and do not visit anyone at their home for next 14 days. Exceptions apply for necessary home services and visits to people in the final days of their lives. People who live alone may visit one or two designated friends or a designated household. Children attending school and daycare may visit classmates.
• Postpone any organised leisure, sports, cultural and similar activities until after January 18th, including indoors activities attended by children from different classes. Outdoors activities for children are okay, provided it is possible to maintain social distance.
• Avoid all non-essential journeys, both domestic and international.
• All shopping malls and shops should apply limits on customer numbers so that social distancing is possible at all times, including control of entrances. The government is to consider introducing rules enforcing this recommendation, according to VG.
• All higher education and youth schools to switch to ‘red' coronavirus alert level, meaning measures including reinforced infection control measures and smaller groups.
• Classes at universities, vocational schools and folk high schools to take place online until January 18th
• Work from home wherever possible.

Municipalities and regions with higher infection rates may also implement the following:

• Primary schools and childcare facilities consider implementing ‘red’ level
• Mandatory use of face masks in public areas where one-metre social distancing is not possible
• Requirement to work from home wherever possible
• Closure of gyms, swimming pools and bingo centres

READ ALSO: The local Covid-19 restrictions for Oslo until January 7th

Norway registered 536 new cases of Covid-19 nationally in the last daily update, according to official data. 6,212 cases have been detected in the last 14 days.

The live tracking of national and local figures by VG shows infection numbers nationally to be increasing slightly at the time of writing, with the country's infection rate at 126.9 per 100,000 residents for the last 14 days.

A total of 436 people have died with Covid-19 in Norway since the beginning of the pandemic.