People who are protected and children under 12 years of age will be able to end the entry quarantine in the event of a negative test result three days after arrival.
- Entry quarantine is an important measure to prevent the import of infections.
There is still a risk of the protected person becoming infected and spreading the virus further, but the risk is much lower than that of the unprotected. Therefore, we believe that it is justified to shorten the quarantine period for this group, said Minister of Health and Welfare Bent Høie. To be able to end the entry quarantine, a negative PCR test result is required, not earlier than three days after arrival. Such a test will reduce the risk of infections by 75-90% compared to no test or quarantine. For example, in the event of a suspected breach of the quarantine obligation, being protected must be documented through
logging in to helsenorge.no.
Shorter quarantine for children
According to FHI (Norwegian Institute of Public Health), children spread the virus less than adults, a children under 12 years of age have a 50 percent lower risk of infection than adults.
- On this basis, the Helsedirektoratet (Health Authority) and the FHI believe that the same entry quarantine rules that we are now introducing for protected persons should also apply to children under the age of 12. The government supports this, said Høie.
The government asked the Helsedirektoratet and FHI to assess whether young people aged 12 to 18 should also be able to shorten the entry quarantine thanks to negative PCR tests performed after three days.
Also read our next article: Definition of Vaccinated and Recoverable
- There is new information that one dose of vaccine may provide less protection against the delta variant virus. Therefore, different rules may apply for people who are fully vaccinated. As previously announced, the Helsedirektoratet and FHI are making a new assessment of when fully vaccinated people can get full release from entry quarantine, said Høie.
The government is working to determine if coronavirus certificates or similar solutions from other countries meet the same quality requirements as the Norwegian certificate, and therefore whether they can provide exceptions to the quarantine requirement, and how this information can be verified.
We advise against going abroad
Testing at the border continues, among other things to control variants of concern. This will be maintained for as long as necessary and reasonable. All travelers, including those who are protected, they must therefore be prepared for tests upon arrival in Norway. The government continues to advise against all unnecessary trips abroad.
Amendments to the entry quarantine for protected persons and children up to 12 years of age enter into force on June 4 at 15.00.
These people are defined as protected:
• people who have been fully vaccinated
• people who received one dose between 3 and 15 years after they received it
weeks
• people who have had the coronavirus in the last six months
