After 561 days of pandemic-induced restrictions, Norway has said goodbye to all its rules, ready to start living as normal with the virus.
On Friday, the Norwegian government abruptly announced that it was time to “live as normal” with COVID-19, by scrapping all its restrictions the very next day, including mask-wearing, social distancing, venue capacity limits, and stay-at-home orders.
The unexpected announcement by Prime Minister Erna Solberg took many Norwegians by surprise and led to chaotic scenes in the capital, Oslo, and elsewhere in the country.
From Saturday 25 September at 4pm local time, Norwegians were able to attend restaurants, nightclubs, sporting events, and even travel outside of Europe, with no travel warnings.
As you can imagine, rowdy celebrations took place across Norway, with hundreds of citizens starting Saturday afternoon and lasting until the early hours of Sunday.
Long lines were seen outside Oslo’s nightclubs, bars and restaurants late Saturday and police registered at least 50 fights and disturbances during the night.
Neither vaccination status certificates nor negative test results are required to enter such venues in Norway.
Reports suggest that some people were angry about the sudden move to reopen society.
Solberg responded to criticism by saying that Norwegian health experts had supported the measure.
“We shall not have strict (coronavirus) measures unless they are professionally justified. People must be allowed to live as they wish,” Solberg told VG late Saturday.
Norway is the second country in the Nordic region to lift COVID-19 restrictions after Denmark did so on September 10.
More than 76 per cent of Norway’s population have received one vaccine dose, and nearly 70 per cent have had both shots, according to official figures.
Source: AAP