Historical archive

Country assessment for week 2 (10–16 January)

Changes to entry restrictions for several countries and areas

Historical archive

Published under: Støre's Government

Publisher: Ministry of Health and Care Services

The Ministry of Health and Care Services is introducing a requirement of travel quarantine for people arriving from seven regions in Finland, four regions in Sweden, the island of Sardinia, and the archipelago of the Azores. The changes will enter into effect on Monday 10 January at 12 am. Figures for weeks 51 and 52 (20 December–2 January) show an increase in infections throughout Europe. There is only one country left for which travel quarantine is not required – Romania.

Travel quarantine will only apply to travellers arriving from red, dark red, and grey countries (countries and areas outside the EEA/Schengen area and the UK) who are not fully vaccinated or have recovered from COVID-19 during the past 6 months and who cannot document this with a valid, verifiable COVID-19 certificate. Children and young people under the age of 18 are exempt from travel quarantine, regardless of the country they arrive from. In addition, travel quarantine may be shortened for all travellers if they present a negative result from a PCR test taken no sooner than 3 days after arrival.

The changes to the country list will appear in the COVID-19 Regulations and the interactive map on FHI.no from Monday 10 January.

Countries in Europe

The following country will continue to be orange, and does not require travel quarantine:
Romania

The following countries will remain red or dark red and require travel quarantine (same requirements for red and dark red countries):

Red:
Bulgaria

Dark red:
Andorra, Belgium, Estonia, France, Greece, Ireland, Italy (changed from red), Iceland (changed from red), Croatia, Cyprus, Latvia (changed from red), Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta (changed from red), Monaco, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, San Marino (changed from red), Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain (changed from red), the UK, Switzerland, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Vatican City (changed from red), and Austria.

Regions and autonomous regions in the Nordic countries

Sweden

No regions in Sweden will be green or orange after week 2.

Travel quarantine is being introduced for the following regions:
Gotland (changed from orange to dark red), Kronoberg (changed from orange to dark red), Norrbotten (changed from orange to red), and Västerbotten (changed from orange to red).

The following regions will remain red or dark red and require travel quarantine (same requirements for red and dark red regions): 

Red:
Västernorrland and Östergötland

Dark red:
Blekinge, Dalarna, Gävleborg, Halland, Jämtland, Jönköping, Kalmar, Skåne, Stockholm, Södermanland, Uppsala, Värmland, and Västmanland. Västra Götaland and Örebro (with the exception of Västmanland, which was already dark red) are other regions that have changed from red to dark red.

Denmark (including autonomous regions)

No regions or autonomous regions in Denmark will be green or orange after week 2.

The following regions will continue to be dark red and require travel quarantine: 
The capital (including Copenhagen), Central Denmark, North Jutland, Zealand, and South Denmark.

The Faeroe Islands will continue to be dark red, and will therefore continue to require travel quarantine.

Greenland will continue to be dark red, and will therefore continue to require travel quarantine.

Finland

No regions in Finland will be green or orange after week 2.

Travel quarantine is being introduced for the following regions (same requirements for red and dark red regions):
Länsi-Pohja (changed from orange to red), Central Ostrobothnia (changed from orange to red), North Karelia (changed from orange to red), South Savo (changed from orange to red), Vaasa (changed from orange to dark red), East Savo (changed from orange to dark red), and the Åland Islands (changed from orange to dark red)

The following regions will remain red or dark red and require travel quarantine (same requirements for red and dark red regions):

Red:
Kainuu, North Savo, South Ostrobothnia, and South Karelia.

Dark red:
Pirkanmaa, Central Tavastland (changed from red), Southwest Finland (changed from red), Helsinki-Uusimaa (changed from red), Kymmenlaakso (changed from red), Lapland (changed from red), Central Finland (changed from red), North Ostrobothnia, Päijat-Häme SVD (changed from red), and Satakunta (changed from red)

Selected islands and archipelagos in Europe 

None of the selected islands or archipelagos will be green or orange in week 2.

Travel quarantine is being introduced for the following islands and archipelagos:
The Azores (Portugal, changed from orange to dark red) and Sardinia (Italy, changed from orange to red).

The following islands and archipelagos will continue to require travel quarantine (same requirements for red and dark red islands and archipelagos):

Dark red:
The Balearic Islands (Spain, changed from red), the Ionian Islands (Greece), the Canary Islands (Spain, changed from red), Corsica (France), Crete (Greece), Madeira (Portugal), the Northern Aegean Islands (Greece, changed from red), and the Southern Aegean Islands (Greece, changed from red).