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

Norway opens to travellers with EU vaccine pass 

Travellers who have been fully vaccinated or have had Covid-19 in the past six months and can document so on the EU’s Covid-19 vaccine passport will be allowed to enter Norway from today. 

“Thanks to fast, efficient and good European cooperation, we already have a corona certificate solution ready on Thursday that will make travel significantly easier for people who have been fully vaccinated or have had Covid-19. It will mean a lot both for individuals and for important jobs in the tourist industry in Norway,” Health Minister Bent Høie said in a statement on Wednesday. 

Travellers using the vaccine pass will be exempt from the entry registration, testing before arrival, testing at the border, and requiring quarantine. 

Norway has said it can currently verify passports from Austria, Bulgaria, Belgium, Cyprus, Germany, Estonia, Finland, France, Croatia, Iceland, Poland, and Latvia.

Other countries that are not currently on the list will need to wait until July 1st, when the EU’s vaccine passport scheme officially comes into effect. 

We will have all the details covered in full in an article later today 

4,000 quarantined in Grimstad 

Around 4,000 people have been quarantined in Grimstad, southeast Norway, following an outbreak of Covid-19 in the town. 

So far, 55 cases of Covid-19 have been registered in connection with the outbreak, but local authorities expect that number to rise in the coming days. 

“This is still an extremely demanding situation. Now we are getting help from our neighbouring municipalities to help with testing,” Communications Manager Petter N. Toldnæs for Grimstad municipality told local newspaper Fædrelandsvennen.

Record number of illegally imported cultural artefacts 

Norwegian authorities have seized more than 600 illegally imported cultural artefacts.

“Trade in illegal cultural objects is a widespread global problem. Norway is obliged by international agreements to help limit the trade and movement of illegal cultural objects,” Abid Raja, the Norwegian culture minister, said. 

The goods seized have been returned to their country of origin. 

269 new Covid cases in Norway 

On Wednesday, 269 new coronavirus cases were registered in Norway, 88 more than the seven day average of 181. 

In Oslo, 29 cases of Covid-19 were recorded, ten less than the seven-day average for the Norwegian capital. 

The R-number or reproduction rate in Norway is currently 0.7. This means that every ten people that are infected will, on average, only infect another seven people, indicating that the infection level is declining.

 

Total number of Covid-19 cases in Norway. Source: NIPH