Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday

Bar’s restaurants and gyms reopen in Oslo

Gyms, restaurants, bars, museums and cinemas reopen in Oslo today as the Norwegian capital completes step two of its five-step plan to lift coronavirus restrictions.

The city had adopted a phased approach to step two. Oslo entered the first phase of step two on May 5th when shops and malls reopened.

From today, the following measures will be allowed:

• Cafes, pubs and restaurants reopen, alcohol can be served until 10 pm.
• Gyms and swimming pools reopen, a capacity of 20 people will be in place. Indoor leisure activities and training for children and young people reopen.
• Cinemas, theatres can reopen for up to 20 people at a time. Museums and galleries can also open.
• Events with up to 20 people in fixed designated seating are allowed. Outdoors the limit will be 30 people without permanent seating and 50 with designated seating.

Schools could be affected by major public sector strike

A total of 20,000 public sector employees could strike as early as Thursday if mediation talks between unions and municipalities break down.
The strikes could affect schools in a number of municipalities, including Oslo.

The public sector last went on strike over a wage settlement in 1995.

“The will to strike is greater than I have ever experienced,” Steffen Handal, who is negotiating on behalf of the Education Association, told press agency NTB.

Mediation talks began on Tuesday.

Almost three quarters opposed to politicians skipping vaccine queue.

According to a survey by the Norwegian Corona Monitor from Opinion, 72 percent of Norwegians are opposed to politicians in parliament being given priority in the vaccine queue.

This comes after the government decided to allocate 500 vaccine doses for socially critical personnel in the government, the Supreme Court, and the Palace.

READ ALSO: Norway to redistribute Covid-19 vaccine doses to local areas 

Only 18 percent of people surveyed support the decision to let politicians jump the vaccine queue. The rest didn’t know whether they were in favour of the decision or not.

“The spirit of hard work and togetherness have been emphasised by the government during the pandemic. The population does not believe that parliament needs vaccines first,” Senior Advisor Nora Clausen from the data collection firm said.

So far, several government ministers have accepted the invitation to cut the queue.

511 new Covid-19 infections in Norway

On Tuesday, 511 new coronavirus cases were registered in Norway. This is 61 cases higher than the seven-day average.

The days following public holidays typically see an uptick in cases.

READ MORE: Norway sees Covid infections fall as R rate rises 

In Oslo, 54 cases of infection were recorded. This is a drop of 17 cases compared to the seven-day average.

The R-number or reproduction rate in Norway is currently 1.0. This means that infections are at a steady level in Norway as for every ten people that are infected, they will, on average, only infect another ten people.

Total number of Covid-19 cases. Source: FHI