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Coronavirus: Norway to make digital record of all arrivals at border

Norway’s government plans to digitally register everyone who enters the country from January.

Published: 9 December 2020 16:46 CET
Coronavirus: Norway to make digital record of all arrivals at border
A file photo of the Norwegian border with Russia at Kirkenes. Photo: AFP

A digital system is to be introduced for all travellers arriving in Norway, including Norwegian citizens.

The purpose of the system is to improve authorities’ ability to enforce quarantine rules and thereby limit the spread of Covid-19, NRK reports.

“You can expect to be checked for whether you break quarantine rules. You can decide yourself what is an appropriate place (to quarantine), but if you break the rules you can expect a solid fine,” justice minister Monica Mæland said on Wednesday.

Everyone who crosses the border, including Norwegian citizens, will be required to register using the new digital system.

“We are further strengthening control now by implementing a digital system for travel registration. This will mean having to pre-register digitally to receive a code which must be shown at the border in order to enter Norway,” fisheries minister Odd Emil Ingebrigtsen told NRK.

Information required will include name, contact details, quarantine accommodation and employer in Norway, if relevant.

The system is expected to be ready for use from January 2021.

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Mæland stressed that everyone travelling from ‘red’ countries, to which quarantine requirements are applied, must comply with quarantine, either at a ‘quarantine hotel’ or at another suitable form of accommodation.

Norway currently has a social lockdown in effect in Oslo and national restrictions are also in place to limit the spread of coronavirus.

Infection numbers in both the capital and nationally are currently at a lower level in comparison with the situation at the end of November, when they were last extended, according to newspaper VG's running analysis of official data.

372 cases of Covid-19 were registered in Norway in the last daily update, including 117 in Oslo, according to national registration system MSIS figures.

But NRK reports a total of 460 cases in the last 24 hours, which it notes is 80 more than the previous day and 19 more than on the same day last week.

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COVID-19

Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

Sweden's Public Health Agency is recommending that those above the age of 80 should receive two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine a year, once in the spring and once in the autumn, as it shifts towards a longer-term strategy for the virus.

Published: 23 December 2022 10:53 CET
Public Health Agency recommends two Covid doses next year for elderly

In a new recommendation, the agency said that those living in elderly care centres, and those above the age of 80 should from March 1st receive two vaccinations a year, with a six month gap between doses. 

“Elderly people develop a somewhat worse immune defence after vaccination and immunity wanes faster than among young and healthy people,” the agency said. “That means that elderly people have a greater need of booster doses than younger ones. The Swedish Public Health Agency considers, based on the current knowledge, that it will be important even going into the future to have booster doses for the elderly and people in risk groups.” 

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People between the ages of 65 and 79 years old and young people with risk factors, such as obesity, diabetes, poor kidney function or high blood pressure, are recommended to take one additional dose per year.

The new vaccination recommendation, which will start to apply from March 1st next year, is only for 2023, Johanna Rubin, the investigator in the agency’s vaccination programme unit, explained. 

She said too much was still unclear about how long protection from vaccination lasted to institute a permanent programme.

“This recommendation applies to 2023. There is not really an abundance of data on how long protection lasts after a booster dose, of course, but this is what we can say for now,” she told the TT newswire. 

It was likely, however, that elderly people would end up being given an annual dose to protect them from any new variants, as has long been the case with influenza.

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