The majority of Norway’s remaining Covid restrictions will be lifted once all adults have been offered a vaccine, which is expected around September 6, according to the government.
The final phase in the relaxation of domestic restrictions, which had been delayed since the beginning of July, “will be enforced three weeks after everyone over the age of 18 has been administered the first dosage of vaccination,” according to a statement from the health ministry.
Some of Norway’s rigorous border controls, however, will stay in place.
So far, 87.2 percent of the adult population in the Scandinavian country has gotten at least one dose of the coronavirus vaccine.
With the start of the new school year just days away, the government declared on Friday that pupils would no longer be required to participate in distant learning.
“After a year and a half, students will finally be able to meet face to face in classrooms and sit shoulder to shoulder in lecture halls,” said Higher Education Minister Henrik Asheim in a statement.
However, at a news conference, Health Minister Bent Hoie advised the public to maintain distance and hygiene habits, warning that diseases are on the rise and that “we are seeing the start of a fourth wave.”
With a population of 5.4 million people, the Scandinavian country has largely kept the Covid-19 epidemic under control during the pandemic, and in mid-June launched the third part of a four-phase strategy to ease restrictions.
Following a spike of illnesses, authorities decided to put the timeline on hold and re-evaluate the situation in mid-August.
On Friday, Oslo announced that an additional one million doses of the Moderna vaccine were on their way, allowing the country to speed up its vaccination program.
“All adults over the age of 18 will be properly vaccinated in the first two weeks of September as a result of this delivery,” Prime Minister Erna Solberg said in a statement.
