The government encourages no more than five guests in private homes

Disturbing infection trends in Europe and Norway mean the government is introducing stricter national infection control measures.

On Monday, it became clear that 54 corona infections have been admitted to Norwegian hospitals, ten more than before the weekend. This is shown in the overview of the Norwegian Health Directorate. Of these, three people use a respirator. This is the highest number of hospitalized patients since May 15, when there were 58 hospitalized patients. At the end of the month, between March and April, a maximum of 318 people were admitted.

– The measures we are introducing now will apply until the beginning of December, Erna Solberg told a press conference on Monday afternoon.

At the same time, the government launched the following measures on its website:

• In private houses, gardens or cabins, you should not have more than 5 guests in addition to the members of the household. If all the guests are from the same household, there may be several. This means that two families can meet even if they have many children.
• The restriction that you must have no more than 5 guests does not apply to the kindergarten or elementary school cohorts. Children and youth who are in the same cohort in kindergarten or elementary school are exempt from the distance requirement for events.
• We recommend that everyone be with fewer people in social contexts, for a shorter time and not with many different people for a week.
• Private meetings in a public place or in rented or loaned premises will have a maximum limit of 50 participants.
• Today’s access to have 600 people present at outdoor events is limited to events where everyone in the audience sits in fixed seats.
• The government proposes to strengthen municipalities in terms of control over compliance with the regulations for events, restaurants and employees.

Change the rules for foreign workers

Much of the infection in recent weeks is due to foreign employees bringing the infection to Norway. Therefore, the government is implementing the following changes to the quarantine rules:

• Foreign workers from what the EU calls red countries will no longer be exempt from the quarantine obligation. The EU defines red countries as countries with more than 150 infected per 100,000 during 14 days. If more than 4% in the country test positive, the limit is 50 infected per 100,000, so they cannot start working until the 10-day quarantine period has been completed. This change will not go into effect until midnight on Saturday, October 31. The change is not retroactive.
• Other employees may still be in quarantine. But here the rules are also tightened: employees who have the leisure quarantine must take the test every three days and be housed in private rooms for the first ten days in the country. It is also clarified that the employer must facilitate the distance with others when one is in quarantine for leisure. This change will take effect at midnight on Wednesday, October 28. The changes are not retroactive.
• The Norwegian Health Directorate and the National Institute of Public Health are tasked with reviewing the quarantine rules to assess whether further clarification is needed.

Updating of the “municipalities toolbox”

At the same time, the government presents a series of proposals on what municipalities can do to reduce infection at the local level:

• The number of contacts during a week should not exceed 10 people in social settings, in addition to household members and kindergarten and primary school cohorts.
• Mandatory bandages must be introduced for all public transport to / from / in the region.
• Mandatory bandages should be introduced indoors in public places (shops, shopping centers) where it is not possible to keep at least 1 meter away.
• Mandatory bandages must be introduced inside restaurants for all employees and guests in all situations where you are not seated at a table.
• A ban against admission to nightclubs should be introduced after kl. 22:00.
• Bans should be introduced against more than 20 participants in indoor events without fixed seats (normally 200).
• An order for a home office must be issued for employees with tasks that do not require physical assistance during / part of the workweek.
• The use of digital distance education for students should be encouraged where practically feasible.

The proposals will be considered implemented in consultation with the Norwegian Health Directorate and the National Institute of Public Health, if municipalities need to introduce their own measures.(Terms)Copyright Dagens Næringsliv AS and / or our suppliers. We would like you to share our cases via a link, which leads directly to our pages. Copying or other use of all or part of the content can only be done with written permission or as permitted by law. For more terms, see here.