Government to present revised national budget

The Norwegian government will unveil its revised national budget on Tuesday.

The budget will see the government propose an extra 1.5 billion kroner for hospitals and an additional 175 million kroner for IVF funding.

In addition to this, government has also pledged to cut ferry prices and increase municipal funding by 7.3 billion.

Money spent using the country’s sovereign wealth fund, money built up from the revenue generated from oil sales, is set to increase to 401.6 billion. This is up 90 billion kroner from the original budget presented last Autumn.

READ MORE: Norway’s wealth fund gains 38 billion euros in first quarter 

The revised budget will be presented at 11am.

Health authorities hope to offer everyone both doses of a vaccine by the end of August

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH) aims to offer everyone the chance to be fully vaccinated by the end of the summer.

“It is possible and conceivable, we hope to be able to offer everyone their second dose during the second half of August,” Director of the NIPH, Camilla Stoltenberg, said.

The plan is reliant on deliveries from Pfizer and Moderna arriving on time. The plan will also be leaning on municipalities to be flexible with their vaccine appointments.

“We have been preparing for the summer for a long time, and the municipalities must be prepared too so that people can get vaccinated over the summer holidays. We will work intensely throughout the summer to continue to have the high numbers of people getting vaccinated as we do now,” Stoltenberg added.

READ MORE: Norway should axe AstraZeneca and Johnson & Johnson, expert committee rules 

The NIPH has previously said it is aiming to offer everyone their first dose by mid-July.

One in four schools had close due to Covid-19 this winter

Some 25 percent of Norway’s primary schools had to close either fully or partially at least once this winter due to coronavirus measures and outbreaks, according to figures from the Norwegian Directorate of Education.

The hardest hit were schools in Oslo and Viken. Some 60 percent of schools in Oslo were forced to close at one point, and 45 percent of schools in Viken had to close their doors to students.

“We know that schools have gone to great efforts to offer students an excellent education and in-person teaching during the pandemic. At the same time, we see that it has been tough for schools to stay open in Oslo and Viken,” Guri Melby, education minister, said.

Finn.no tops customer satisfaction survey

Marketplace website Finn.no has topped Norway’s customer satisfaction survey, the Norwegian Customer Barometer.

84.6 of the site’s users were satisfied with their experience on the site, an increase of 1.4 from 2020.

In second place, missing out by just 0.1 percent, was Flytoget.

Overall, customers satisfaction with Norwegian companies has never been higher.

579 Covid-19 cases registered in Norway

On Monday, 579 cases of coronavirus were registered, an increase of 154 on the 7-day average of 425.

138 cases were recorded in Oslo on Monday, an increase of 33 on the 7-day average of 105.

The R-number or reproduction rate in Norway is currently 0.7. This means that the pandemic is receding in Norway as for every ten people that are infected, they will, on average, only infect another seven people.