Norway to tighten COVID-19 restrictions, PM says

[December 13, 2021]    OSLO (Reuters) -Norway will further tighten restrictions this week in order to limit the spread of the coronavirus, Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere told news agency NTB on Monday.

Passengers wearing protective masks enter an underground railway station, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Stockholm, Sweden, January 7, 2021. Jessica Gow/TT News Agency/via REUTERS/Files

"The situation is serious. The spread of infection is too high and we have to take action to limit this development," he said.

The prime minister's office was not immediately available for comment.

Norway is setting record highs both in terms of new COVID-19 infections and hospitalisations, partly due to the spread of the Omicron variant of the virus.

In a risk assessment released on Monday, the Norwegian Institute of Public Health (FHI) recommended the government moved quickly.

"A lack of action now could lead to large negative consequences for society, not just for health services and municipalities," the FHI said.

Unless effective measures are established, the nation of 5.4 million people risks having between 90,000 and 300,000 new COVID-19 cases on a daily basis from early January onwards, the FHI added.

(Reporting by Terje Solsvik, editing by Gwladys Fouche and Ed Osmond)

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