Historical archive

Country assessment for week 39 (27 September–3 October)

Changes to entry restrictions for several countries and areas

Historical archive

Published under: Solberg's Government

Publisher: Ministry of Health and Care Services

The entry restrictions will be gradually downscaled in connection with the transition to ‘A normal everyday life with increased emergency preparedness’ on 25 September at 4 pm. A number of changes will be made to the country assessment.

Travel quarantine will now only be required for travellers arriving from red, dark red, purple, and grey countries. Children and young people under the age of 18 will be exempt from travel quarantine. Travel quarantine may also be shortened for all travellers if they can present a negative result from a PCR test taken no sooner than 3 days after arrival. The duty to stay at a quarantine hotel in order to complete quarantine will also be lifted. 

The changes will appear in the COVID-19 Regulations and on the interactive map on FHI.no from Monday 25 September at 4 pm.

Countries in Europe

The following countries will remain green and not require travel quarantine:
Poland, the Czech Republic, and Hungary.

The duty to complete travel quarantine will be lifted for the following orange countries (same requirements for green and orange countries):
France (changed from red), Italy, Iceland (changed from red), Luxembourg, Malta, Monaco (changed from red), the Netherlands (changed from red), Portugal (changed from red), San Marino, Slovakia, and Vatican City.

The following countries will remain red or dark red, or change from red to dark red, and trigger a duty to complete travel quarantine (same requirements for red and dark red countries):
Red: Andorra, Belgium, Bulgaria, Estonia, Greece, Ireland, Cyprus, Croatia, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Spain, Switzerland, Germany, Romania, and Austria.

Dark red:
Lithuania (changed from red), Slovenia, and the UK.

Regions and autonomous regions in the Nordic countries

Sweden

The following region will remain green and not require travel quarantine:
Norrbotten

The duty to complete travel quarantine will be lifted for the following orange regions (same requirements for green and orange regions):
Blekinge, Dalarna, Gävleborg, Gotland (changed from red), Halland, Jämtland, Jönköping, Kalmar, Kronoberg, Södermanland, Uppsala, Värmland, Västerbotten, Västernorrland, Västmanland, and Örebro.

The following regions will remain red and trigger a duty to complete travel quarantine: 
Skåne, Stockholm, Västra Götaland, and Östergötland. 

Denmark (including autonomous regions)

The duty to complete travel quarantine will be lifted for the following regions (same requirements for green and orange regions):

Green: Southern Denmark, Central Denmark, and North Jutland (all changed from orange to green).

Orange:
The capital (including Copenhagen, changed from red) and Zealand.

The Faeroe Islands will remain orange, and the duty to complete travel quarantine will be lifted.

Greenland will change from orange to red and thus continue to trigger a duty to complete travel quarantine.

Finland

The following region triggers a duty to complete travel quarantine: Southwest Finland (changed from orange to red).

The following regions will continue not to require travel quarantine:
Green: Länsi-Pohja, Central Finland, North Karelia, and the Åland Islands.

Orange: Satakunta (changed from green)

The duty to complete travel quarantine will be lifted for the following regions (same requirements for green and orange regions):
Pirkanmaa, Central Tavastland, Helsinki-Uusimaa (changed from red to orange), Kainuu (changed from red to green), Kymmenlaakso, Lapland, Central Ostrobothnia, North Savo, North Ostrobothnia, Päijat-Häme, South Ostrobothnia (changed from orange to green). South Karelia, South Savo, Vaasa (changed from red), and East Savo.

Selected archipelagos in Europe 

The duty to complete travel quarantine will be lifted for the following archipelagos:
Green: The Azores (Portugal) and the Canary Islands (Spain), both changed from orange to green.

Orange: The Balearic Islands (Spain, changed from red), Madeira (Portugal), the Northern Aegean Islands (Greece, changed from red), and Sardinia (Italy, changed from red).

The following archipelagos will remain red or dark red, or change from red to dark red, and trigger a duty to complete travel quarantine (same requirements for red and dark red archipelagos):

The Ionian Islands (Greece, changed from dark red to red), Crete (Greece), Corsica (France), Sicily (Italy), and the Southern Aegean Islands (Greece, changed from dark red to red).

Purple countries
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health assesses the countries and areas on the EU’s list of third countries which have an infection rate that warrants slightly lighter entry restrictions. These countries and areas are known as ‘purple countries’, and travel quarantine is not required when entering Norway from a purple country.

The following countries and areas will remain purple: New Zealand, Saudi-Arabia, and Taiwan.

The process for changes to country assessments
The changes are based on the weekly assessment by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health of areas in the Nordic region, countries, and selected archipelagos in Europe, in addition to selected countries on the EU's list of third countries. The assessments are based on the same threshold values as those applied in the EU.

The assessment this week (an even week) concerns whether the infection rate calls for stricter or lighter entry restrictions and quarantine requirements. The decision means that measures will be lifted for some countries, while travel restrictions and quarantine requirements are introduced for others.

If you travel from a green country but have a layover in a country with stricter quarantine requirements (for example orange, red, or dark red), the entry restrictions of the country you stop in will apply when you arrive in Norway. This means that if you are not a Norwegian citizen and have a layover in a country that is not green, you will not have the right to enter Norway. 

New updates every week
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health assesses relevant countries and areas every week. In even weeks, a broad-ranging assessment is made, based on the infection rate, of whether measures will be eased or tightened for the countries and areas. In odd weeks, the only assessment made is whether a country should have stricter rules (for example if it is changed from green to orange or red), based on the infection rate.

Updates to the country assessments are published on regjeringen.no every Friday at about 12 pm, and the changes enter into effect the following Monday at 12 am. The changes will appear in the COVID-19 Regulations and the interactive map on FHI.no.