Prime Minister Erna Solberg and 13 family members ate sushi in the apartment in Geilo during the winter holidays. Now she lies down flat.
Just updated
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The case is being updated.
– Now I have made a real mistake. We should never have done this, says a remorseful Solberg to VG.
It was NRK who first reported that the Prime Minister and her family broke the infection control rules during the winter holidays in Geilo at the end of February.
In a Facebook post on Thursday night, the Prime Minister herself tells about the breaches, where her family gathered more than allowed ten pieces to have dinner together.
Two nights in a row, the family gathered:
- Friday night the Solberg family had booked a table at the Hallingstuene restaurant. A total of 13 people were present. According to the Prime Minister himself, they were spread over three different tables, and sat at a good distance. “We thought that this dinner was within the regulations, but it was not,” writes the Prime Minister, who was not present at this dinner because she was at Ullevål hospital.
- Saturday night Erna Solberg and 13 family members were gathered in an apartment to eat sushi. “The plan was for everyone to come and supply themselves, and then distribute themselves on the two apartments again. But instead, everyone stayed in our apartment “, writes the Prime Minister.
– There are four too many. We should not have had it like that, and I should have stopped it. I did not do that, and can only say sorry, she says in the post.
Pad flat: – A cardinal error
– If the Prime Minister does not manage to follow the rules, how can you expect the Norwegian people to manage it?
– The worst thing about this is that I am a bad example to everyone else. I understand that people react, get angry, and frustrated when they see that not even the Prime Minister has an overview of the rules, she says and adds:
– This is no excuse. That’s a shame.
BREAK THE RULES: Prime Minister Erna Solberg apologizes after she broke the infection control rules two days in a row. One day the 13 pieces were together – the next 14. Photo: Private
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– What signals does it give that even the Prime Minister breaks the corona rules?
– Of course I should be more aware. We were going to go out to eat and thought that the infection control rules were met. But we did not think that they became an event when we were more than ten people. It was a cardinal mistake.
– It was two dinners. What was the plan for the two days?
– We were going to ski and enjoy ourselves. It was only planned for one company; that we were going out to the restaurant to eat in the evening. I got a corneal infection and first went to a local doctor, but had to go to Ullevål hospital. I went home that night and ate frozen pizza in the prime minister’s residence.
She adds:
– If I had been healthy, I would also have been at that restaurant.
On Saturday she was better and went up to the mountains again.
– What is the lesson?
– That we should all be extra vigilant and make sure that we follow the rules that apply where you are.
– Embarrassing
The national infection control rules for February imply that no more than ten people could be gathered in a private event at a restaurant.
Such were also the local rules in Hol municipality where Geilo is located when Solberg and his family visited the municipality.
– I think this is embarrassing, she says.
– As Prime Minister, I have a special responsibility to follow the rules and recommendations that apply. I myself have been involved in adopting these rules and recommendations and should therefore know all the details. If the visit to the restaurant is followed up with fines, we will of course make up for it like everyone else.
She goes on to apologize:
– I’m sorry that my family and I have broken the corona regulations, it should never have happened. Of course, we should also have followed all the recommendations, as I have asked you to do. I am thinking in particular of all those who have had to cancel things they have been looking forward to, a birthday with classmates, a celebration with friends or anything else that is important. I understand those who get angry and disappointed about this. I’m done wrong, and I’m sorry for that. I’m very sorry for what happened.
On Thursday night, VG spoke to the police in the South-East to hear what they are doing in connection with the infection control breach.
– It is natural that the police consider a case when it comes in the media, but we do not do it on Thursday night – because it is not an urgent assignment, and we do not have a report on it, says operations manager Marius Knudsen
– But the police have opened a case and report for several others who have broken the infection control rules in the last year – what is the reason for not doing it here?
– The police can open a case, but now we handle the emergency assignments, and we do nothing about it tonight, he adds.
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