Norway | Restrictions loosen in Norway: Alcohol can be bought again in restaurants and bars, but only until 11 p.m.

Strict coronavirus restrictions are easing in Norway, the country’s prime minister said Jonas Gahr Støre at a press conference on Thursday night. Numerous Norwegian media outlets reported this, among others NRK.

Norway tightened interest rate restrictions significantly in mid-December. In the country, among other things was banned sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants and indoor cultural and sporting events.

Now the sale of alcohol in bars and restaurants is allowed again, but the sale must stop at 11 p.m.

In addition, the government will again allow public, indoor events for up to 200 people if everyone attending the event has a seat.

Restrictions will be reassessed after two weeks.

Prior to the government’s press conference on Thursday evening, the Norwegian Health Authority Folkehelseinstituttet (FHI) and the Helsinki Directorate of Health under the Norwegian Ministry of Health recommendedthat the national ban on the sale of alcohol in restaurants be lifted. The FHI did not recommend the introduction of an corona passport within Norway.

FHI is responsible for the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare.

In addition, FHI recommended that up to 200 indoor events for people could be held if all participants had their own seating area.

FHI recommended continuing to work remotely.

Read more: There was a discouraged atmosphere in Oslo on Tuesday over tight interest rates: “There is a grim end ahead”

NRK: n there are three main reasons for relaxing the restrictions.

First, more is known about the omicron transformation of the coronavirus. In general, the omicron variant appears to be significantly more susceptible to infection than previous variants of the coronavirus, but does not appear to cause as severe a disease as, for example, the delta variant of the coronavirus.

Second, many Norwegians have received a booster dose of coronavirus vaccine. According to FHI, the number of people receiving the third dose in Norway has risen sharply since the end of December.

The third reason NRK thinks is that the availability of rapid tests has improved. It will also improve significantly in the coming weeks, the broadcaster says.