The Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs has announced that all travellers reaching the country from Iceland will have to quarantine for a period of ten days after the latter was removed from the yellow category to the red category of high-risk COVID-19 countries.

The decision has been taken based on the weekly assessment of the National Institute of Public Health of the COVID-19 infection situation in the European Union and Schengen Area Countries and has become effective in the first hours of Monday, April 12.

According to the same assessment, the hospital district of North Karelia in Finland will also go from yellow to red on the infection map for EU.

In a press release announcing the decision, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs also advises its citizens against travel that is not absolutely necessary to Iceland and North Karelia, which travel advice will remain effective at least until May 15.

“All travellers from these areas who come to Norway from midnight, night to Monday, April 12, and who meet the criteria for exemption from current entry rules, will be quarantined for ten days upon entry,” the Ministry explains, while pointing out that in principle, only foreigners residing in Norway will have the opportunity to enter the country.

On the National Institute of Public Health’s recommendation, the Ministry has also decided to remove several Finnish hospital districts from the red to yellow on the infection map for Europe, which means that arrivals from these areas no longer need to quarantine upon arrival in Norway.

These hospital districts are:

• Lapland
• Länsi-Pohja
• Southern Ostrobothnia
• Northern Ostrobothnia

The Ministry also reminds travellers from the United Kingdom that since the latter is no longer a member of the EU, only those coming to Norway for essential purposes can enter from the UK.

Obligation to Quarantine at Hotels to Remain in Place

On April 9, the Norwegian government has also submitted a proposal to the Storting, which is the supreme legislature of the country, to extend the rules authorizing the quarantine hotel scheme until November 10, 2021. The rules were set to expire on July 1, 2021.

“The proposal does not mean that the rules on quarantine hotels will necessarily last beyond July 1,” the government explains.

It further notes that the proposed extension does not change the length of who is going to a quarantine hotel or the length of the quarantine.

Norway imposed the quarantine hotel scheme on November 5, 2020, amid the second wave of the pandemic. According to the scheme, all persons travelling to Norway have are obliged to isolation at a quarantine hotel, though certain groups of travellers are exempt from this obligation.