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At this time, the National Institute of Public Health and the Norwegian Health Directorate are working on the evaluation of the new EU proposal for travel rules in Europe. As recently as 9/11, the Norwegian Health Directorate strongly cautioned against making changes, according to an internal report Dagbladet has had access to.
In September, the Norwegian Health Directorate, in collaboration with the National Institute of Public Health, submitted its responses to various questions on travel rules on behalf of the Ministry of Health and Care Services.
The internal report claims that the Norwegian Health Directorate strongly warned against the consequences of changing the criteria for entry quarantine requirements from the EEA / Schengen area and the Nordic countries.
“If the government chooses to extend the criteria for quarantine, it will be spread across the country for a couple of months if very strict measures are not introduced internally in the country,” the Norwegian Health Directorate wrote, continuing:
“It is not compatible with the strategy and objectives of the government. There is a high probability that the situation will spiral out of control and the only measure that can stop such a spread is the complete closure of the country. We have seen this in many countries that have not implemented enough measures quickly enough. “
The biggest threat
In the report, the Norwegian Health Directorate wrote, among other things, that the biggest threat to the government’s strategic objectives is too great a relaxation of entry measures. The government’s strategic goal is to reduce infection and keep it low, something that the Norwegian Health Directorate believes the country is capable of as long as many do not open up to a high degree of imported infection.
The Norwegian Health Directorate referred to, among other things, the second Holden Committee report, which concludes that the current strategy has the least negative consequences compared to the “brake” strategy. The Norwegian Health Directorate believed that further opening of the borders was, in fact, a choice between maintaining the “tear down” strategy or switching to the “brake” strategy.
Evaluate suggestions
Last week, EU member states agreed on a proposal for a common color map for travel restrictions, which Norway is in favor of, Health and Care Services Minister Bent Høie told NTB.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health informs Dagbladet that they are currently working on the evaluation of the EU proposal on behalf of the government and that it is therefore too early to comment on it. Deputy Health Director Espen Rostrup Nakstad says they are not done yet.
– We continually evaluate which travel tips and restrictions we should recommend to the government, this work also includes the latest EU proposal. It is ongoing work, and the infection situation in Europe is also changing, but as of today we are not done, Nakstad tells Dagbladet.
The proposal
First, the EU proposes to classify countries as green, orange or red according to the infection pressure in the last 14 days.
Currently, Norway classifies countries in red if they have registered more than 20 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days. Countries with an infection pressure below 20 are classified as yellow.
The EU has proposed that countries that have registered fewer than 25 infected per 100,000 inhabitants in the last 14 days be classified as green. At the same time, they propose that countries with less than 50 in infectious pressure be classified as orange and that countries with more than 50 in infectious pressure be classified as red.
EU member states propose that travelers from green countries should not be subject to travel restrictions, while travelers from orange and red countries, for example, can be imposed quarantine or tests.
The proposal also means that the infection pressure is assessed by region and not by country as a whole. So far, Norway has conducted regional assessments of infection pressure in the Nordic countries, while the rest of the EEA / Schengen countries have been assessed by country as a whole.
Greenland
In the September 11 report, the Norwegian Directorate of Health, in collaboration with NIPH, assessed whether it was relevant to reintroduce green countries as a category and therefore remove the recommendation to avoid unnecessary travel to relevant countries.
Both the Norwegian Health Directorate and the NIPH concluded that this was inappropriate and explained the decision in this way.
“The green category was removed because many perceived it as ‘safe’ countries to travel. Some may have perceived this as destinations where it was not so important to follow the basic infection control rules about distance, hygiene, etc. Several have been infected afterwards to travel to ‘green’ countries “.
“The infection situation in different countries is changing rapidly and leads to frequent color changes. This in itself is not very suitable for informing the population, building trust in municipalities and helping people to plan long-term trips. Predictability is important for the confidence of the population in the advice of the health authorities. “
Regional assessments
The Norwegian Health Directorate and NIPH were also asked to assess whether it was relevant to assess infection pressure by regional areas in other EEA / Schengen countries.
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health concluded that a land-based approach will continue to provide the best possible control over imported infection. At the same time, they were open to reconsidering the decision if Europe achieves better control of the spread of the infection. The Norwegian Health Directorate supported FHI’s conclusion to discourage regional assessment of infection pressure in EEA / Schengen countries beyond the Nordic countries.
“NIPH has previously viewed a regional assessment of the infection status as a very demanding exercise, especially the data collection process. This process is now outlined to hold ECDC accountable. FHI still believes there will be uncertainty associated with basing assessments on reported local data, “wrote the National Institute of Public Health and continued:
“Assessments become more robust if you have local knowledge about the spread of infection and a good understanding of the systems and perform assessments based on this. If only the reported figures are used, the assessments can be strongly influenced by individual incidents that do not necessarily reflect that there is a greater spread of the infection in the society in general.
Third country
Finally, the Norwegian Health Directorate and the National Institute of Public Health were asked to provide an infection control assessment with regard to open entry from third countries, i.e. non-EEA and Schengen countries.
The Norwegian Health Directorate and the NIPH conclude that they advise against granting quarantine exemptions to travelers from countries outside the EEA / Schengen area. On the other hand, entry from third countries may be allowed if travelers complete the ten-day quarantine after arrival in Norway.
‘The NIPH believes that allowing quarantine exemptions from countries outside the EU carries such great uncertainty that we recommend requiring quarantine for these countries, regardless of the database. This assessment may change as the pandemic unfolds and awareness of circulation in individual countries increases, “states the FHI assessment, which appears in the internal report.
