On Thursday, Norway entered stage 2 of its reopening plan. Now, more people can gather, and restaurants and pubs can serve alcohol until midnight. Step 2 also means fewer restrictions on domestic travel, more guests, and larger gatherings.
People are encouraged to meet outdoors and not have visits from more than ten guests, but there can be more if all the guests come from the same household.
Vaccinated people are not included in the number limit for home visits, but the distance requirement applies regardless.
There are several different restrictions for private and public events. Among other things, up to 20 people are allowed inside and 30 people outside in a public place or rented premises for private events.
For public events, the limit is a maximum of 50 people without fixed, allocated seats. With fixed, allocated places, the limit is 200 people.
Alcohol-serving until midnight
Many people have looked forward to having a beer without being served dinner. From Thursday, restaurants and pubs will have an admission and alcohol-serving stop at midnight, and there will no longer be a requirement for food service alongside the alcohol. But the restaurants will have to uphold multiple infection control measures.
There will also be some relief for domestic travel. Those who are not vaccinated are encouraged to be extra careful and plan their journey so that the spread of infection between places is avoided as much as possible. This will be especially important for people traveling from areas with high infection pressure.
Travel abroad is still not recommended but can be carried out if strictly necessary. There will still be strict entry restrictions for foreigners. Exceptions are introduced from the entry restrictions for foreigners residing in areas that are not subject to quarantine obligations.
The infection situation in the country where the traveler has resided in the last ten days before entry is the basis for the decision on a person’s stay in a quarantine hotel.
Open for league matches
Amateur sports and cultural and leisure activities can gradually restart again. Children and young people under the age of 20 can now train and participate in sports, cultural and leisure activities with the exception of the 1-meter recommendation.
Top sports are also opening up. In stage 2, training matches can take place in the Postnord league in football and in other series in top sports that have not been opened so far.
The government will allow league matches in the same series three weeks after May 27, provided that the experiences from the training matches and the infection situation are positive.
Three weeks
Furthermore, in step 2, “green” level kindergartens and schools can reopen. From Thursday, the municipalities themselves can decide which level of measures will apply in schools and kindergartens, based on the infection situation locally.
When the reopening plan was presented in April, the government said that there are plans for a controlled reopening of Norway in four steps.
“When we have opened up one step, we will, as a rule, wait for three weeks before we move on to the next step. When we see that it is safe and that the infection is not increasing again, we will move on to the next step in the plan,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg (H) told NTB at the time.
Some municipalities may have local regulations that are stricter than the national regulations.
Source: © NTB Scanpix / #Norway Today / #NorwayTodayNews
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