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The rules for entry quarantine will be stricter for healthcare professionals, while others may be exempted.
The rules for inbound quarantine and infection quarantine will be identical and will be brought together in a common arrangement.
– These regulations have been modified several times because the infection situation has changed. This means that it can seem confusing and complicated, says Health Minister Bent Høie at a press conference.
The purpose of the changes is to make it easier to comply with the quarantine rules. The consequence is that the rules for inbound quarantine become stricter.
– We also made changes to the exceptions to the quarantine obligation, says Høie.
Health professionals living in “red” countries or areas can no longer start working directly in Norway if they work a planned shift. The exception for quarantine can only be used if there is a danger to life and health.
– If you work in a socially critical role in Norway and live in Sweden, you and your employer cannot plan for you to have exceptions to the requirements, Høie explains to VG.
For travelers between Norway and Sweden and Norway and Finland, a test is required every seven weeks. The same applies to flight personnel.
Changes take effect immediately.
Present the days of care
Trade and Industry Minister Torbjørn Røe Isaksen says the government will also make adjustments to the rules for days of care.
– Now we are introducing days of care, or days of sick children, if children have to be at home due to local outbreaks, he says.
The government is introducing a separate scheme in which parents receive days of care when needed if schools and kindergartens are closed, even though they have already exhausted the usual quota for days of care.
“The right to care allowance was extended this spring and adjusted this summer. All parents have received a full annual fee for the last semester of 2020, from July 1 to December 31. This fee must be depleted first. If any local outbreaks and closures after the quota is exhausted, parents will have more days of care, “the government writes in a press release.
The new rules will take effect starting this week.
– Therefore, parents should not worry about what daily life will be like if they have to be at home with their children due to the closure of schools and kindergartens, says Røe Isaksen.
Parents can receive days of care if schools close corona
Ask the municipalities to prepare
– In most municipalities in the country, there is now little infection. I think many are happy to leave behind the tough roofs that Bergen, Fredrikstad and Sarpsborg have taken in recent weeks, says Health Minister Bent Høie.
Municipalities with low infection rates should make good use of their time. However, the Minister of Health calls on municipalities to prepare for local outbreaks in the future.
– We are now at a crossroads that decides whether we enter constant new crown outbreaks that affect our daily lives or if we enter a situation we find ourselves in this summer, emphasizes Deputy Director of Health Espen Nakstad.
The situation in the world offers little comfort, he believes.
– Several countries in Europe are approaching a new wave of uncontrolled spread of the infection. During this press conference alone, 250 people are killed, Nakstad notes.
He states that the National Institute of Public Health (NIPH) still believes that the spread of the infection in Norway is low and the risk of a new national outbreak is low.
– This virus does not care how good we were keeping our distances in March and April. And this virus doesn’t care if you think you just had a little cold when you went to a party on Friday night, he says.
One of the things people are wondering now is where the virus most easily spreads, according to Nakstad.
– And the answer is in small rooms, in houses, in bus or train compartments where many people gather. Or there are people face to face at a party.
The epicenter remains North and South America
– The epicenter of the pandemic is still in North and South America, says the director of the department at FHI Line Vold.
Many countries in Europe have seen a sharp increase in infection in recent weeks, he says.
Norway has also seen an increase in infection recently.
– Two weeks ago 722 cases were reported. The number of reported cases remains at this level, says Vold.
In Bergen, there are just under 400 people with Covid-19 who may be related to the outbreak. It is too early to see the effect of the measures in Bergen, he believes.
In Sarpsborg and Fredrikstad, there has been a clear decrease in the number of infected in the last week.
