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Norway extends UK flight ban until December 29th

Norway’s ban on all incoming flights from the United Kingdom has been extended until December 29th, the country’s health ministry has confirmed.

Published: 26 December 2020 09:41 CET
Norway extends UK flight ban until December 29th
Photo: AFP

The ban may eventually be extended into January, news wire NTB reports.

“It is still necessary to maintain measures so that we gain more time to gather more knowledge about the virus and prevent possible spread to Norway,” health minister Bent Høie said in a statement.

The ban on all direct passenger flights from the UK to Norway was introduced for an initial two days on December 22nd due to the discovery of a faster-spreading variant of Covid-19. It has now been extended twice.

The Norwegian Directorate of Health has already recommended an extension of the ban until January 2nd, according to NTB.

The new variant of the coronavirus is believed to have first appeared in London and Kent and is reported to be up to 70 percent more contagious than other strains. Based on what scientists know so far, the variant does not appear to cause more serious illness than other kinds of coronavirus.

“As the situation is now, we do not have the capacity to test all travellers from the Univted Kingdom at the border. That could lead to a lack of control over transmission of the new, significantly more infectious variant of the virus,” Høie said.

Recent arrivals in Norway are to be contacted by authorities and asked to follow new guidance, the minister previously confirmed.

The following rules apply to all travellers from the UK to Norway until January 10th:

  • A PCR Covid-19 test must be taken within 1 day after arrival in Norway and again 7 days after arrival from the UK
  • A PCR Covid-19 test must be taken as soon as possible by anyone who travelled from the UK to Norway within the last 14 days
  • Registration with authorities required on arrival
  • Registration required with local municipality at destination in Norway
  • Current exemptions from arrival quarantine do not apply to travellers from the UK, though some exemptions may further apply to this

In addition to the above, Norway's general quarantine rules still apply.

READ ALSO: These are Norway's new rules for recent arrivals from the UK

 

 

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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.” 

READ ALSO: 

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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