A maximum of two guests in private homes and a national bar stop are among several new, national austerity measures. – I know this will provoke reactions where there has hardly been a case of infection before, says Minister of Health Bent Høie.
Just updated
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The case is being updated.
During a week before Easter week, the registered infection in Norway is higher than ever before. The number of corona patients admitted is on a par with April last year.
At the same time, the government is introducing the national austerity measures they have previously announced that they will introduce if the infection did not go down. This is done on the recommendation of the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the National Institute of Public Health, says Minister of Health Bent Høie.
These recommendations were delivered only a quarter of an hour before the press conference began on Tuesday afternoon, the document shows with the professional communities’ advice.
– Know it will provoke reactions
The reason for new, national austerity now is that the mutated virus is constantly spreading to new places and that new outbreaks are constantly appearing.
– I know this will provoke reactions where there has hardly been a case of infection before, says Bent Høie that the government is now introducing new measures.
It is a mixture of injunctions / prohibitions and recommendations and recommendations that are now being introduced at the national level.
– The national measures also apply at Easter no matter where it is spent. The most important thing is that we travel as little as possible and meet as few as possible, says the Minister of Health.
New, national recommendations
The new national measures come into force from midnight on Thursday 25 March and will be reconsidered before 12 April.
- The one-meter is changed to two meters
- A maximum of two guests are recommended for visits to private homes.
- If you come from areas with a high level of infection, you should neither go on nor have overnight visits
- Children and young people under the age of 20 and living alone can still have overnight visits by one or two regular friends
- Wear a face mask in all places where it is not possible to keep a distance of two meters
- People should only use shopping malls and department stores in the municipality in which they live
- All unnecessary travel should be postponed with the exception of travel to and from work when it is not possible to have a home office, travel home to the family for students without a family where they study and travel to a cabin and holiday home with their own household.
- Digital teaching in universities, colleges and vocational colleges will be accelerated from 6 April to 25 March and will last until 12 April.
New, national rules
- It is forbidden to pour alcohol all over the country.
- Indoor organized sports and leisure activities for adults are prohibited, with the exception of top professional athletes.
- Fitness centers are closed, but may be open to the inhabitants of the municipality, for rehabilitation, individual training and treatment.
- Swimming pools will be closed, but may be open to children at swimming training and people who need the pool for rehabilitation.
- Amusement parks, bingo halls and similar entertainment facilities are closed.
- The employer must ensure that employees work from home in all workplaces that are practically possible.
- People who return to Norway after unnecessary trips abroad must spend the entire quarantine period in quarantine hotels. This takes effect from midnight, night to Monday 29 March.
- We recommend that all planned events be canceled. If events cannot be postponed, these rules apply:
- Indoors, 20 people are allowed at events with fixed, designated seating.
- Indoors, 50 people are allowed at sports events for people under the age of 20 who belong to sports teams in the same municipality.
- Outdoors, only 50 people are allowed at events.
- It is allowed with 50 people in funerals and funerals when permanent designated places are used.
How far is actually two meters? We have tested this:
Concerned about TISK capacity
Several times in the last week, a record number of cases of infection have been registered both nationally and in the capital.
– The situation is worrying and unstable, says head of department Line Vold at the National Institute of Public Health about the infection situation in Norway.
Health Director Bjørn Guldvog in the Norwegian Directorate of Health justifies the tightening, among other things, with the measures we have are not sufficient to stop the increase in infection.
– We are also concerned about the capacity to test and track infection. Several laboratories report that they are approaching the limit of how many samples they can analyze, and several municipalities report that they are struggling with the capacity to track down everyone who has been in contact with someone who is infected. If the municipalities are unable to detect infection, it will take little for us to lose control and for the infection to spread quickly.
Among municipalities that have been made aware of this are including Tønsberg and Færder – who now have their samples analyzed at Oslo University Hospital because the capacity has been blown up at the hospital in Vestfold. In several cases after this transition, they have had to wait up to four days for a test result.
Several municipalities have been incorporated into the government’s strict measure level 5A. This applies to Oslo, the whole of Viken, Salten, the whole of old Vestfold as well as the old Telemark municipalities of Skien, Porsgrunn, Bamble and Siljan.
Where there are local measures that are stricter than the national ones, the local rules will apply and vice versa. It is always the strictest rule that applies.
Do you wonder what measures apply in the municipality you live in? Check VG’s overview here.
VG first wrote that “persons returning to Norway after unnecessary trips abroad must spend the entire quarantine period in quarantine hotels” from midnight to March 25, but this is not true. This rule takes effect at midnight to Monday 29 March. (The other new measures, on the other hand, come into force at midnight to March 25, as VG wrote.)
CORRECTION: VG first wrote that “persons returning to Norway after unnecessary trips abroad must spend the entire quarantine period in quarantine hotels” from midnight to March 25, but this is not true. This rule takes effect at midnight to Monday 29 March. The other new measures, on the other hand, will take effect at midnight to 25 March. This was corrected on 23.03 at 19.23.
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