Current Covid-19 rules in Oslo will now continue until June 18th. when the council will assess the situation again.

The decision comes after infections in the city rose by 87 percent last week. 

“Almost 600 were infected. A large amount of those were 16–19-year-old’s who haven’t been vaccinated yet,” Executive Mayor Raymond Johansen told the press on Tuesday. 

There were, in fact, more than 600 cases registered in Oslo last week. According to the Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s official figures, Oslo registered 627 new coronavirus infections in total. 

Johansen added that another reason for extending measures was that the city council hopes to lift them for good when they do ease restrictions. 

“The cautious, gradual reopening of Oslo has been successful, and our ambition is when we open, we open for good,” he said. 

Oslo is currently on step two of its five-step plan to lift restrictions in the city. 

 Bars, restaurants and gyms reopened in the capital on May 27th with measures such as a cut-off point of 10 pm for serving alcohol and limited capacity for sports and leisure centres in place. 

The complete list of restrictions currently in place are: 

• Cafes, pubs and restaurants are open, and alcohol can be served until 10 pm. Capacity is in line with national recommendations—social distancing of 1 meter in place.
• Gyms and swimming pools are open, with a capacity of 20 people. Indoor leisure activities and training for children and young people are allowed.
• Cinemas, theatres are open for up to 20 people at a time. Museums and galleries are also open.
• Events with up to 20 people in fixed designated seating are allowed. Outdoors the limit is 30 people without permanent seating and 50 with designated seating.
• Shops and malls are open with capacity dependent on the size of the store. Social distancing of 2 meters in place 
• Up to 10 people can meet indoors and up to 20 outdoors. 
• Libraries are open. 
• Kindergartens, primary schools and secondary school are at the yellow level. Yellow level means full class sizes and limited mixing of students from different classes. You can read more on the yellow level here. 
• Facemasks to be worn on public transport, in places of worship and stores. 

The Executive Mayor said the city would also be banning russ, final year high school students who party in the month leading up to their final exams, from “rolling”. 

READ MORE: Could final year high school students in Norway be given earlier Covid-19 vaccines? 

This is where students ride around in special party buses or coaches. 

“If there are many in a russ bus, perhaps in a jovial mood and wanting to dance and shout and have a good time, we see that the risk of infection spreading increases greatly,” Johansen said.