Norway bans non-essential travel from Australia
Australians who until now were eligible to enter Norway for non-essential purposes amid COVID-19 will no longer be eligible, as Norwegian authorities have removed the country from the list of purple countries.
The purple country list consists of third countries listed in the EU’s list of epidemiologically safe third countries, which have lower infection rates, which allow travelers from these countries to enter Norway for several additional purposes than those listed as essential.
“Grandparents, boyfriends and others from these countries are exempt from the entry ban. You must request prior permission for girlfriends entry when the country of departure is purple, and the entry permit can only be used when the country is purple“, Notes the Norwegian Ministry of Health and Care Services in a press release.
He also points out that Australia is no longer classified in the category of purple countries due to an increase in the number of cases detected in Australian territory recently.
Thus, as of Monday, September 20, the only countries on the purple list are New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan and Saudi Arabia.
At the same time, the ministry notes that changes will take place from Monday concerning arrivals from several member states of the European Union. Travelers from Slovenia are now subject to the obligation to self-isolate in quarantine hotels, while arrivals from the Faroe Islands, as well as the Finnish regions of Central Ostrobothnia SVD and Lapland SVD.
The only countries that remain green, whose travelers are not subject to entry conditions, other than the obligation to fill out a form and test CVODID-19 on arrival:
- Hungary
- Poland
- the Czech Republic,
- The Swedish region of Norrbotten
- Finnish regions of Länsi-Pohja SVD, Åland, Central Finland SVD, Satakunda SVD and North Karelia SVD.
The amber box, meanwhile, currently includes Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, Luxembourg, Malta, the Faroe Islands and Slovakia.
The following northern regions are also orange:
- The Swedish regions of Södermanland, Uppsala, Blekinge, Dalarna, Västernorrland, Kronoberg, Gävleborg, Jönköping, Halland, Jämtland, Örebro, Värmland, Västerbotten, Västmanland and Kalmar,
- Danish regions of Zeeland, southern Denmark, central and northern Jutland
- The Finnish regions of Kymmenedalens SVD, Södra Savolax SVD, Centrale Hämeenlinna SVD, Norra Österbottens SVD, Norra Savolax SVD, Päijat-Häme SVD, Syd-Österbottens SVD, Östra Savolax SVD, Birkalands SVelD, SVD E.
Travelers from orange countries and regions must have a negative test certificate before entry, complete the entry registration form, test themselves at the border on arrival, and they must be in entry quarantine.
The same rules apply to eligible people from red countries. Currently, the Country Red List consists of all countries that are not listed in green, orange, purple, or dark red. While the dark red list includes Slovenia, Great Britain, the South Aegean Islands (Greece) and the Ionian Islands (Greece).
According to the World Health Organization, Norway has recorded 981 new cases of COVID-19 in the past 24 hours and no deaths, bringing the total number of cases recorded since the start of the pandemic to 180,427, while the death toll remains at 841. The country has a population of 5.328 million.
Data from the European Center for Disease Prevention and Control shows that 92.4% of the adult population in Norway have received at least the first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 81.6% are already fully vaccinated.