People who are protected and children under the age of 12 who present a negative result from a test taken three days after arrival will be able to end travel quarantine.
“Travel quarantine is an important measure in order to prevent imported cases of COVID-19. There is still a risk of protected people contracting COVID-19 and transmitting infection, but the risk is far lower than for unprotected people. We, therefore, believe that it is safe to reduce the quarantine period for this group,” Minister of Health and Care Services Bent Høie said on Friday.
It is a requirement that a person can present a negative result from a PCR test taken no sooner than three days after arrival in order to end their travel quarantine.
This type of test will reduce the risk of infection by 75-90%, compared with no testing or quarantine. A person must be able to provide documentation of their protected status by logging in to helsenorge.no, for example, if it is suspected that they have breached their duty to quarantine.
Shorter quarantine for children
According to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI), there is a lower risk of transmission by children than adults, and children under the age of 12 are presumed to have a 50% lower risk of contracting COVID-19 than adults.
“The Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health accordingly believe that the same travel quarantine rules that are now being introduced for protected people should also apply to children under the age of 12. The Norwegian government agrees with this,” Høie noted.
The Norwegian government has asked the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the FHI to assess whether young people aged 12–18 should be able to end travel quarantine early following a negative result from a PCR test taken no sooner than three days after arrival.
“We have recently learned that a single vaccine dose may offer less protection against the Delta variant of COVID-19. Different rules may therefore be introduced for people who are fully vaccinated. As mentioned before, the Norwegian Directorate of Health and the Norwegian Institute of Public Health will therefore perform a new assessment of when fully-vaccinated people may be fully exempt from travel quarantine,” Høie said.
The Norwegian government is evaluating whether COVID-19 certificates or similar solutions in other countries meet the same quality requirements as the Norwegian solution and thus can provide grounds for exemption from quarantine, and how the information can be verified.
International travel not advised
Testing at the border will continue, among other reasons, to keep variants of concern under control. This measure will be kept in place as long as necessary and proportionate.
All travelers, including protected people, must therefore be prepared to be tested upon arrival in Norway. The Norwegian government still advises against unnecessary international travel.
The changes to the travel quarantine rules for protected people and children under the age of 12 entered into effect from June 4 at 3 PM.
The following groups are defined as protected:
- people who are fully vaccinated
- people who have received one dose, and 3–15 weeks have elapsed since they received their dose
- people who have had COVID-19 during the past six months
Source: Ministry of Health and Care Services / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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