Norway Adds Finland’s South Karelia on Its COVID-19 High-Risk List, Imposes Stricter Entry Rules

Finland’s district of South Karelia has been added to Norway’s COVID-19 red list of countries that are considered profoundly affected by the pandemic; therefore, authorities in Norway advise not to travel to this region unless absolutely necessary.

According to Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, all persons seeking to enter Norway, from February 22, and who meet the exemption criteria from entry rules, will be obliged to follow ten days mandatory quarantine, AtoZSerwisPlus.com reports.

After estimating that the Coronavirus situation has started to ease in Finland’s districts of North Savolax, North Karelia, Central Ostrobothnia, Kainuu, and Southern Savonia, Norway’s government has recommended lifting the quarantine rules for these regions, as they will go from red to yellow on Europe’s infection map.

However, Norway’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs continues to advise its citizens to avoid traveling to other countries for non-essential purposes. The travel advice against unnecessary trips will be valid until April 15.

Norway has registered a total of 68,315 cases of infections, and 607 persons have died so far. Therefore, to protect their citizens’ health, authorities in Norway have announced that they will further tighten their measures.

This month, the government revealed that it plans to establish a narrow application-based scheme for exclusions from entry restrictions. Such a scheme that will help the government to have tighter controls was launched on February 20.

“In the first instance, we open up for technical personnel who perform tasks that are strictly necessary to maintain activity in Norwegian workplaces. We will now look at whether we can eventually open up to other employees,” Norway’s Minister of Trade and Industry Iselin Nybø (V) pointed out.

However, employees permitted to enter Norway’s territory will still be obliged to comply with the quarantine regulations.

Persons who enter from the countries with many reported cases of COVID-19 infections must quarantine upon their arrival.

Norway’s government emphasized that it is continuously working to tighten controls when using hotels for quarantine, stressing that soon it will introduce a notification obligation and a registration scheme for persons following self-isolation requirements in hotels.

Earlier this month, the country’s authorities announced that they would not include in the quarantine rules health personnel in Norway, who have taken the vaccine against the COVID-19 and have critical functions in hospitals or other health services.