Norwegians’ desire to travel continues to increase. Last week, more than 106,000 people registered for entry into Norway.
The proportion of travelers who after testing turn out to be infected with the coronavirus remains stably low at 0.25 percent, according to ukes reports from FHI which was published on Wednesday afternoon.
But in absolute numbers, the import infection is rising sharply.
145 people who were tested at the border were infected last week. That is three times as many as two weeks before.
– This is something that still worries us and which means that we still have strict rules for who can come to Norway. This applies not least to the fact that you must test and register and be quarantined if you come from a country where this is required, says Minister of Health and Care Services Bent Høie to TV 2.
Spain is the worst
Calculations made by TV 2 show that the number of foreign planes with infected on board is rising sharply. From 33 machines in the first 14 days of July, to 103 so far a month.
And it is Norway’s holiday country number one that exports the most infection to Norway right now, with almost 25 percent of all cases coming by plane.
This is confirmed by FHI’s figures. Last week, Spain was responsible for 24 cases of infection that were caught on arrival in Norway. Sweden was number two, with 16 cases.
Health director Bjørn Guldvog is still not very worried about the situation.
– As of today, we do not experience a great deal of infection pressure from abroad, but it is clear that it will increase as more people travel, also from red and dark red countries.
– The health leaders held a press conference on Wednesday afternoon. Photo: Torstein Bøe / NTB
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At the top in Europe
Spain is currently in its fifth wave of infection and is blood red on FHI’s European map. The country registered over 60,000 new infected on Monday and has almost 700 infected per 100,000.
Guldvog is therefore not very surprised that Spain is responsible for most of the infection that comes to Norway.
– There are many Norwegians with connections to Spain and this means that the volume of travelers from Spain is particularly high, says health director Bjørn Guldvog to TV 2.
– But this is of course something we are concerned about and follow closely.
– We must be careful
At Oslo Airport Gardermoen, TV 2 meets the sisters Inger Lunde Dalen and Kristine Sanchez, who on Wednesday afternoon were waiting to check in to Alicante.
– Sisters Inger Lunde Dalen and Kristine Sanchez. Photo: Tommy Storhaug / TV 2
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Although the infection in Spain is now almost 15 times more widespread than in Norway, they are not particularly worried about going there.
– I am fully vaccinated and we will live in a separate apartment. There are almost no other people there, says Sanchez.
The sisters are still prepared for the fact that the holiday will not be quite as normal. The province of Valencia has imposed a night curfew to get rid of the infection, and face masks are still required indoors in public places.
– So we will stay at home and be very careful, Sanchez says to TV 2.
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