STRICT MEASURES: Health Minister Bent Høie introduces the strictest national level of measures in seven municipalities in the Haugesund area. Photo: Torstein Bøe
The government is tightening measures for seven municipalities in the Haugesund region to deal with the growing infection from the British virus mutation.
The case is being updated!
From Wednesday March 17 inclusive to Sunday April 11 inclusive, Bokn, Haugesund, Karmøy, Sveio, Tysvær, Utsira and Vindafjord are subject to measure level A at the national level.
This means, among other things, that all stores and department stores must be closed with a few exceptions, full bar stops, and only takeout in restaurants.
In addition, gyms, swimming pools and the like are closed, and it is recommended to avoid home visits and meetings at home.
– There is a growing infection with the English variant of the virus in several of the municipalities in the Haugesund area, and they report that the situation is challenging and confusing. Therefore, municipalities have requested that the government introduce regional measures so that they can control the infection, says the Minister of Health and Care Services, Bent Høie (H).
Click on the data box below to see the full list of measures at measure level A.
Kindergartens, schools, universities, colleges, and vocational schools
The yellow level of the measures in line with the traffic light model applies to schools and kindergartens as for the rest of the country. Local assessments should be made according to the infection situation, that is, the municipality, as the infection control authority, may decide that there will be a red level when necessary based on a professional infection control assessment. However, the government may issue national recommendations on the red level of measures if the situation so requires.
The facilities of universities, colleges and vocational schools are closed to all students and teaching is done digitally. Employees follow the rules of working life in general.
Events (edit)
All events outside the home are prohibited, both indoors and outdoors, with the exception of funerals and burials.
Digital events are allowed with a maximum of five people in attendance, in addition to performers and other necessary production staff.
Sports and leisure activities
It is not allowed to organize sports activities for adults and young people (with one exception, see below). The same applies to leisure activities such as staged rehearsals, training, and rehearsals for choir, corps, and theater.
Sports and leisure activities organized outdoors are allowed for children and young people under 20 years of age, as long as they take place in groups of up to 10 people and all participants come from the same municipality. It is recommended that the activities be carried out in such a way that you can maintain at least two meters of distance between the participants.
Jobs
Home office mandate for everyone who can. Employers must ensure that employees work from home to the extent possible. Employers must be able to document that employees have been briefed on how this will be done in the company. Travel to work should be considered strictly necessary. However, the requirement for a home office will apply to those who have the opportunity to do so.
Shops and services
All stores and warehouses must be closed, with these exceptions:
Grocery stores, including kiosks, natural foods, and others that primarily sell groceries.
Outlets that mainly sell pet food and other pet and pet necessities.
Pharmacy
Bandsjister
Opticians
The wine monopoly
Individual services such as hairdresser, dermatologist, tattoo artist, etc.
Healthcare companies, such as physiotherapists, chiropractors, podiatrists, etc.
Gas stations
Commercial activities for agriculture and animal production
The warehouse and the wholesale part in hardware stores that sell handicrafts and related
Stores and department stores can remain open for picking up prepaid ordered products when robust infection control solutions have been established for the delivery of the products.
Restaurants, cafes, bars and hotels
Restaurants are closed, but takeout is allowed.
Pour stop.
Hotel restaurants can serve food to overnight guests.
The following companies and locations will be closed
Gyms
Pools, water parks, spa facilities, hotel pools and the like.
Religious and philosophical houses, with the exception of funerals and funerals and conversations between representatives of religious and philosophical communities and individuals.
Libraries.
Amusement parks, bingo halls, game rooms, play areas, bowling alleys, and similar venues.
Museums
Cinema, theater, concert halls and similar cultural and entertainment spaces.
Other public places and shops where cultural, entertainment or leisure activities take place that bring people together inside.
Recommendations:
Everyone should avoid home visits and gatherings in their own homes. There are exceptions for:
Necessary services at home and visits to people who are in the last stage of life.
Living alone, they can be visited by one or two regular friends or a permanent home.
Children, in addition to visits from their own kindergarten and elementary school cohort, and youth may receive visits from one or two regular friends.
You must keep 2 meters away in meetings with other people. The exceptions are the people in your own home and the people mentioned in the previous point.
Everyone should avoid unnecessary travel. Travel to work should be considered necessary. For the vast majority, there will still be requirements for a home office.
The residents of the municipality are not recommended to go to the open shopping centers or department stores of the neighboring municipalities.
Residents of the municipality can go to vacation homes, but only with people from their own household. Make all purchases in your own municipality before departure. Do not visit shops, restaurants or meeting places with many people in the rural municipality. Stay a good distance from others on the ski slope, chairlift, and on walks. Check what tips and rules apply to the municipality of cabins and follow them. Do not accept visits.
Municipalities and county municipalities should introduce reinforced measures in public transport, this may be, for example, that only up to 50 percent of the capacity is used in means of transport.
People at high risk of becoming seriously ill or dying if they become infected with the coronavirus should live more protected.
One-on-one businesses, such as hair salons, should introduce reinforced measures such as the use of masks in situations where it is not possible to maintain a distance of 1 meter or temporarily reduce or withdraw treatment offers that involve face-to-face encounters. -face contact.
Testing and follow-up of close contacts and household members:
It is recommended that people who are in quarantine get tested on days 7-10 during the quarantine period.
Close contacts associated with a mutated coronavirus outbreak are screened by PCR testing both at the entrance of quarantine (once defined as close contact) and at the exit from quarantine (earlier on day 7).
Household members who have close contacts should be quarantined until the first PCR test is available for close contact. This applies to outbreaks associated with the English variant of the virus.
Duty to wear a mask
When it is not possible to maintain a distance of at least one meter, in addition to short-lived steps to non-members of the household, bandages will be used in shops, in common areas of shopping centers, in restaurants, in religious and philosophical houses. , in public transport and indoor station areas, and in places for cultural, sports and leisure activities.
Passengers must wear a mask in a taxi. The mouthpiece must be attached before the passenger gets into the taxi and must not be removed until the journey is over and the passenger has got out of the taxi. The obligation to wear a face mask applies correspondingly to the driver when there are passengers in the taxi.
The obligation to wear a mask also applies to employees in places where it is not possible to keep at least one meter of distance from visitors. This does not apply to employees in places where other infection control measures have been implemented for employees, such as the use of visors, partitions and the like in accordance with the recommendations of the National Institute of Public Health.
The obligation to wear a mask does not apply to children under 12 years of age, nor to those who for medical or other reasons cannot use a mask.
All municipalities can introduce strict recommendations and regulations based on local infection situations. Therefore, it is important to follow what applies in your own municipality.
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Unstable situation
The government describes the infection situation in the Haugesund area as unstable. Infection tracking capabilities are under pressure and large numbers of people are under quarantine.
In the municipality of Haugesund alone, 27 new cases of infection were detected on Tuesday, more than ever during the pandemic and almost double the previous day. In addition, 982 people are in quarantine and 116 in isolation.
– A growing number of infection cases are of the English variant of the virus and several have an unknown route of infection, writes the Ministry of Health.
On Monday, Haugesund Hospital had to cut back on planned operations due to crown insertions. There are now five crown patients admitted here, the highest since early April last year.
He called for stricter measures
In a meeting with the Haugalandet municipalities, the health authorities and the State Administrator this morning, the issue of the new national corona measures was discussed.
– We are in a serious situation with a large infection in Haugalandet, and we are concerned, among other things, about the ability to track tests and infections and the capacity of the hospital, says Tysvær Councilor Sigurd Eikje.