OSLO, Aug 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Norway will lift the majority of its remaining Covid restrictions once all adults have been offered a vaccine, which is expected to be around Sept 6, the government said.
The final step in the lifting of domestic restrictions, already postponed from the start of July, “will be implemented three weeks after everyone over the age of 18 has been offered the first dose of vaccine”, a health ministry statement said.
Some of Norway’s strict border controls will remain in force, however.
So far, 87.2 percent of the Scandinavian country’s adult population has received at least a first dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
With the start of the new school year just days away, the government announced an end on Friday to distance-learning requirements for students.
“This means that students can finally meet face-to-face in classrooms and sit shoulder-to-shoulder in lecture halls after a year and a half,” Higher Education Minister Henrik Asheim said in a statement.
But Health Minister Bent Hoie urged the public to maintain distancing and hygiene routines, warning at a press conference that infections are increasing and that, “We are seeing the start of a fourth wave.”
The Scandinavian country, with a population of 5.4 million, has succeeded in keeping the Covid-19 outbreak largely under control throughout the pandemic, and in mid-June began the third phase of a four-phase plan to lift restrictions.
A subsequent surge in infections led authorities to put the timetable on hold and re-assess the situation in mid-August.
Oslo also said on Friday that an additional one million doses of the Moderna vaccine were due to arrive in the country, allowing it to accelerate its vaccination programme.
“With this delivery, all adults over 18 will be fully vaccinated in the first two weeks of September,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a statement. — NNN-AGENCIES
