Nordic countries talk about opening borders
Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) will not stop border control and quarantine duty without other countries doing the same.
– “We will do this together with the other Nordic countries and with the EU, perhaps in groups,” says Solberg to NTB.
– “We will wait and do this in a coordinated way, where we talk to each other,” says the prime minister, who on Thursday had talks with her Danish colleague Mette Frederiksen on the matter.
– “We agree to follow each other and look at when it’s a natural time,” says Solberg.
Unbeknownst
The Directorate of Health and the Public Health Institute (FHI) are now preparing new advice on vacations and leisure travel, which will be presented on 15 May and will apply from the 1st of June, the government writes in its new Coronavirus strategy.
But these will not necessarily provide answers about travel out of Norway, and thus it is unclear when the advice on foreign travel will be changed. Those who have to plan for the summer now should plan a Norwegian holiday, emphasizes Solberg.
– “When it comes to traveling abroad, the answer is that we do not know. This is not something Norway decides alone, it is something we must do together with other countries. We are working on the matter, but it is too early to give a date,” she says.
FHI: Consider cancellation
In the strategy, the government makes it clear that the ban on foreign travel for health professionals is lifted with immediate effect.
But foreign travel is still not advised, and people who have been abroad must quarantine upon returning home.
In its recommendation to the government, FHI writes that the quarantine should now be considered mutually lifted with countries that have good control of the infection, such as Denmark.
The Directorate of Health also believes that such a change may soon become relevant.
– But it is a political decision, points out Health Director Bjørn Guldvog to NTB.
Seeking end to quarantine restrictions
At the same time, thousands of Norwegians who have cabins in Sweden have demanded that quarantine be lifted soon.
Swedish local authorities in the Strömstad area also say they will try to influence Norway to open borders, following a 95 percent fall in over the border shopping.
“This is what we stand for. We need to know the complete picture of the and control of the contagion in Sweden that we can live with before we open the borders,” says Solberg.
Sweden has far more cases of Coronavirus infection and around seven times more deaths compared to the population of Norway.
© NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today
