Oslo tightens COVID restrictions
Variant infections surge forces near lockdown measures
As U.K. variant infections surge in Norway’s most populace region the country’s capital is introducing much tighter restrictions.
City Councilor Raymond Johansen.
“The people of Oslo have taken a great responsibility for a long time, but still we must now ask for even more.”
The restrictions will come into force on Tuesday and remain in place until at least March 15th.
All restaurants must close, except for take-away.
All non essential stores must close. Essential stores remaining open include grocery stores, pharmacies, and liquor stores.
Galleries and art outlets must close.
Organized outdoor activities for adults over the age of 20 are not recommended.
Outdoor events are prohibited with some exceptions and even then an assembly ban of no more than five people applies.
Students will move to online learning tomorrow and Tuesday. In order to buy time for schools to adopt a combination of online and in person learning by Wednesday.
Mass COVID testing of students using saliva based testing will begin March 8. Testing will also be increased for all teachers.
Indoor activities for youth aged 16-19 years old, the age group with one of the largest infection increases, will be restricted to groups of no more than ten with a one meter social distancing requirement.
The city of Oslo is mandating strict infection control rules on all construction sites. Intentional or grossly negligent violation of the rules can be punishable by imprisonment for up to 6 months. Testing will be increased for construction workers.
Attending private gatherings and visits in private homes, with the exception of single people and children and young people in the same cohort, is discouraged.
As well the city announced today that COVID testing across Oslo , including for children and young people, and contact tracing will be ramped up.
Over the weekend the Norwegian Public Health Institute announced the U.K. variant has become the dominant strain in Norway’s most populace region. It says the variant now accounts for between 50-70% of all positive infections Oslo, the surrounding metro area, and adjacent Viken county.
At a press conference today city officials said the hope is the tightened restrictions and a move to drastically increase testing can buy time to get many more people vaccinated.
Currently in Norway 318,722 1st doses (5.94% of the population) and 149,622 2nd vaccination doses (2.79% of the population) have been administered.
You can watch today’s press conference below.