The Norwegian government has issued updated travel advice and quarantine restrictions. People arriving from Hungary and seven regions of Sweden will no longer have to home quarantine, opening up the possibility for cross-border shopping for the first time in more than four months.
Four new Swedish regions—Värmland, Örebro, Östre Götaland and Kalmar—are included on the “green” list along with the three previously announced: Skåne, Blekinge and Kronoberg. Home quarantine restrictions remain in place for all other regions of Sweden.
However, Spain is now considered a “red” risk country. Anyone arriving in Norway from Spain after midnight (July 24-25) will have to home quarantine.
On July 10, Norway confirmed that the border would reopen to all EU/EEA residents from July 15. The 10 day home quarantine requirement remained in place for just a handful of “red” countries: Portugal, Hungary, Croatia, Romania, Bulgaria and Luxembourg, along with most of Sweden.
Today’s announcement is the first update to these restrictions, planned for every 14 days. Aside from the changes to Hungary and Sweden, the restrictions remain in place for the countries listed above.
Critical for the Swedish economy
Since mid-June, the number of new COVID-19 cases has been steadily falling in Sweden. While the rate remains significantly higher than in Norway, it does now fall within the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) guidelines in many of the regions. This means quarantine-free travel will be permitted from seven regions from midnight tonight (July 24-25).
Before the announcement, SEB chief economist Robert Bergqvist hoped that the Norwegian government would lift the restrictions for border regions. “The economic situation in the retail trade is critical,” he told E24.
He was especially concerned for Värmland county, which has two key border shopping destinations yet has an infection rate significantly below the FHI’s requirements. “Free movement of goods, services and people is very important for the economic recovery after the coronavirus,” added Bergqvist.
Quarantine reintroduced for Spain
A source of much frustration for vacationing Norwegians will be the reintroduction of the quarantine period for anyone arriving from Spain. When the requirement was removed 14 days ago, many Norwegians chose to book last-minute trips to Mediterranean destinations, including Spain.
An estimated 12,000 Norwegians have traveled to Spain since the restrictions were lifted. Now, most of those people will face a mandatory ten days at home upon their return.
From July 16, Spain has recorded more than 1,000 new COVID-19 cases every day, a rate not seen since mid-May. Although some regions are harder hit than others, the entire country has been deemed “red” by the Norwegian authorities.