OSLO: Norway will reintroduce nationwide measures to stem surging coronavirus cases, including authorising towns to use health passes, the government announced on Friday.
The Nordic country, which had lifted all Covid-19 restrictions in late September, will also propose a third vaccine dose for people over 18 but will not impose a new lockdown, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store told a press conference.
“The government wants to introduce new national measures to contain contagions,” he said.
“However, we are not talking about confinements or measures as strict as we saw earlier in the pandemic.”
The new measures include a requirement for adults who have been in contact with a positive case to be tested, and unvaccinated health workers will have to be tested twice a week and wear masks.
Local restrictions had reappeared in recent days in Norway, with daily cases at around 1,500 in a country of 5.4 million people.
Europe is facing a sharp deterioration in the epidemic situation, especially in Germany and central and eastern Europe. Non-vaccinated people are the most affected.
The World Health Organization has warned that Europe is once again the “epicentre” of the pandemic.