FRP and labor: responds to mutation management

When the proposal was discussed in the Storting on December 3, only the Labor Party gave its support to the FRP proposal. Now FRP leader Siv Jensen reiterates the need for a trial regimen for all visitors.

Jensen believes that the new variant of the virus, which is up to 70 percent more contagious than the common coronavirus, has updated the proposal.

As early as August, the Progress Party proposed mandatory tests at the border. Now is the time for Health Minister Bent Høie to realize that this is a sensible tool to limit import infections to Norway, says Jensen.

– very alarming

– Everyone who crosses the border must be tested when they come to Norway. This will not only reduce the likelihood of new cases of infection in Norway, but we will also gain a better overview of the source of the infection so that we can work more determinedly on prevention, says Jensen.

Karanteneinnstramming

The Labor Party has also long demanded mandatory testing at the borders. Labor Party health policy spokesperson Ingvild Kjerkol told NTB that there is also a need to tighten quarantine provisions.

– Now the government should put aside prestige. With news from the UK tonight about a new mutated virus, it is an even bigger mystery that the right-wing government has refused to introduce mandatory tests on arrival from abroad, Kjerkol told NTB.

– The Netherlands and Belgium have already stopped all flights from the UK, but Bent Høie will only “consider stricter measures”. One can easily wonder, he continues.

Kjerkol believes that the import infection we have in Norway is unnecessary and too high.

– The government should put prestige aside as soon as possible and both introduce mandatory testing and make sure there are no exceptions to the UK’s quarantine rules, says Kjerkol.

Does not come swimming

Also a party colleague, Oslo City Councilor Raymond Johansen, is aware that mandatory testing must be carried out, in addition to the fact that he believes the government should seriously consider closing the borders for UK travelers.

– I don’t want it in Norway!

Several European countries did just that on Sunday.

– Fortunately, the virus does not arrive swimming through the North Sea. It comes with people who travel. I have previously asked for mandatory testing at the borders. I still think the government should put it into practice. The World Health Organization now encourages member countries to strengthen the measures, Johansen says in a Facebook post Sunday night.

Now the Center Party’s health policy spokesman, Kjersti Toppe, is also calling for the government to close the border and introduce mandatory tests.

– I hope that the government will present new austerity measures soon. The mandatory testing should be an addition to the quarantine, but I hope Norway will immediately close the borders for flights from England as other countries have done, at least until the situation is further clarified, Toppe told NTB.