Norway weekly updates to entry restrictions [29 November – 5 December 2021]

The Ministry of Health and Care Services of Norway has announced new changes to entry restrictions for travelers coming from Monaco, France, Spain, Portugal (including the archipelago of The Azores), the region of North Savo (Finland), and the regions of Gotland and Västernorrland (Sweden).

These areas and countries were classified as orange areas but turned into red zones after the latest COVID-19 epidemiological situation assessment carried out by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (which generally takes into account the latest EU Council’s recommendations).

The modification implies that the travel quarantine requirement will be reintroduced for these territories, particularly if the traveler is not able to present a valid and verifiable COVID-19 certificate specifying recovery status, a recent diagnostic test with a negative result, and/or full vaccination status. Only children under 18 years of age will be exempt from the 10 days-long isolation after arrival in Norway.

This period may be shortened if the adult travelers take a PCR test around 3 days after arrival in Norway and the test comes out negative.

Apart from the new additions of France, Spain, Portugal (with The Azores included), North Savo (Finland), Gotland and Västernorrland (Sweden), other countries and areas requiring travel quarantine by week 48 (29 November–5 December 2021) are Andorra, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark (including Greenland and the Faroe Islands), Estonia, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland,  Ireland, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom. These are all red and dark red areas.

Only Italy, Malta, San Marino, and Vatican City nationals are exempt from travel quarantine if they travel to Norway directly from their home countries.

In regard to Sweden, people coming from the regions of Blekinge, Gävleborg, Halland, Kalmar, Norrbotten, Skåne, Stockholm, Södermanland, Uppsala, Värmland, Västmanland, Västra Götaland, and Örebro will continue to require travel quarantine.

As for Finland, the regions of Pirkanmaa, Central Tavastland, Southwest Finland, Helsinki-Uusimaa, Kymmenlaakso, Länsi-Pohja, Central Finland, Central Ostrobothnia, North Ostrobothnia, Päijat-Häme, South Ostrobothnia, and South Karelia will remain red.

All of these changes came into effect on Monday 29 November and there will be no further modifications until the new regulations expire on December 5th, 2021. At this point, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health will review the COVID-19 statistics in selected countries and the Ministry of Health and Care Services of Norway will publish a new decision based on each country and area’s infection rates.

This way, the entry requirements and non-essential travel regulations to Norway will stay up to the circumstances, with fewer restrictions for people coming from countries with more stable epidemiological situations and stricter norms for those coming from countries and areas representing a bigger sanitary risk for Norway.