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

Frazer Norwell
Frazer Norwell - [email protected]
Today in Norway: A roundup of the latest news on Wednesday
Read about Norway scrapping entry quarantine, a health chief saying the current Covid measures placing more of a burden on society than the disease itself and record infection numbers in today's roundup of important news. Pictured is Bergen from above.

Find out what’s going on in Norway on Wednesday with The Local’s short roundup of important news

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Norway passes 20,000 daily Covid cases and sets new infection record 

On Tuesday, 24,429 new Covid-19 infections were registered in Norway, 9,062 more than the same day a week before. This is the first time the country has recorded more than 20,000 Covid-19 cases in a single day and a new daily infection record.

Over the last seven days, an average of 18,110 Covid-19 cases have been recorded each day. The same average a week ago was 11,180, meaning a rising infection trend.

253 patients were in hospitals with Covid-19 on Tuesday, two fewer than the day before.

Last week weekly admissions rose for the first time since peaking in mid-December, and health experts have said they expect numbers to rise further going forward.

READ MORE: Why Omicron has caused an increase in Covid-19 hospitalisations in Norway

Norway scraps quarantine for all travellers

From today, all travellers arriving into Norway will no longer be required to quarantine, regardless of their vaccination status, whether they have a valid Covid-19 certificate or where they arrive from.

The rule will come as a boost to travellers from outside the European Economic Area or EEA (EU countries plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway), as arriving from a non-EEA country, excluding the UK, automatically triggered a quarantine obligation unless you met the Covid-19 certificate and vaccination requirements.

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The rule change was announced on the government’s website, and the decision comes following a recommendation from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). The NIPH said that travellers without a valid Covid-19 certificate accounted for 7 percent of all arrivals and only 4 percent of total infection cases, meaning the quarantine period was “of little significance” to the development of the pandemic in Norway.

“I agree with the NIPH that the proportion of infected among arrivals without a Covid certificate is so small related to the infection situation in Norway, that the time has come to change the requirement for entry quarantine,” Health Minister Ingvild Kjerkol said in a statement.

READ MORE: Norway to scrap Covid-19 entry quarantine for all travellers

Health chief: Covid measures may be placing a greater burden on society than the disease itself

The current Covid measures may be more of a burden on society than the disease itself, Forde Forland from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health told newspaper VG on Tuesday.

“Now, we may see that the measures place a greater burden than the disease itself. Therefore, we continuously evaluate this (the situation) for the government to adjust things,” he told the newspaper.

In recent weeks measures such as the alcohol ban and the self-isolation, rules have been eased somewhat, and Forland said that more restrictions could be lifted soon as he believed the infection situation was currently under control.

“The measures will continue to be relaxed if this goes well, and it seems to be going well,” Forland said.

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