Country assessment for week 38 (20–26 September): Changes to entry restrictions for several countries and areas

All of the changes will enter into effect on Monday 20 September at 12 am.

The changes will appear in the COVID-19 Regulations and the interactive map on FHI.no from Monday 20 September.

Countries in Europe

A quarantine requirement is being introduced for the following country:
Slovenia (changed from orange to dark red).

The following countries will remain green:
Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic.

The following countries will remain orange or red, or change from orange to red (the same rules apply to orange and red countries):

Orange:
Italy, San Marino, Vatican City, Luxembourg, Malta, and Slovakia.

Red:
Portugal, Ireland, Iceland, Greece, France, Estonia, Belgium, Lithuania, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Bulgaria, Germany, Andorra, Monaco, Spain, the Netherlands, Croatia, Austria, Cyprus, Romania (changed from orange), and Latvia (changed from orange).

The following countries will continue to be dark red and trigger a duty to stay at a quarantine hotel:
United Kingdom

Regions and autonomous regions in the Nordic countries

Sweden
No changes are being made to the classification of regions in Sweden.

The following regions will remain green:
Norrbotten

Thefollowing regions will remain orange or red (the same rules apply to orange and red regions):

Orange:
Södermanland, Uppsala, Blekinge, Dalarna, Västernorrland, Kronoberg, Gävleborg, Jönkjöping, Halland, Jämtland, Örebro, Värmland, Västerbotten, Västmanland, and Kalmar.

Red:
Gotland, Stockholm, Västra Götaland, Skåne, and Östergötland.

Denmark

Autonomous regions:

Entry restrictions and a quarantine requirement are introduced:
Faeroe Islands (changed from green to orange).

Entry restrictions and a quarantine requirement are kept:
Greenland.

Thefollowing regions will remain orange or red (the same rules apply to orange and red regions):

Orange:
Zealand, Southern Denmark, Central Denmark, and North Jutland.

Red:
The capital (including Copenhagen).

Finland

Entry restrictions and quarantine requirements are being introduced for the following regions:
Central Ostrobothnia and Lapland.

The following regions will remain green:
Länsi-Pohja, the Åland Islands, Central Finland, Satakunta, and North Karelia.

Thefollowing regions will remain orange or red, or change from orange to red (the same rules apply to orange and red regions):

Orange:
Kymmenlaakso, South Savo, Central Tavastland, North Ostrobothnia, North Savo, Päijat-Häme, South Ostrobothnia, East Savo, Pirkanmaa, South Karelia, and Southwest Finland.

Red:
Helsinki-Uusimaa, Kainuu, and Vaasa (changed from orange).

Selected archipelagos in Europe

Thefollowing archipelagos will remain orange or red (the same rules apply to orange and red archipelagos):

Orange:
The Azores (Portugal) and Madeira (Portugal).

Red:
The Canary Islands (Spain), Sardinia (Italy), Sicily (Italy), the Northern Aegean Islands (Greece), the Balearic Islands (Spain), Crete (Greece), and Corsica (France).

The following archipelagos will remain dark red and trigger a duty to stay at a quarantine hotel:
The Southern Aegean Islands (Greece) and the Ionian Islands (Greece).

Purple countries
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health assesses the countries and areas on the EU's list of third countries which have an infection rate that warrants slightly lighter entry restrictions when travelling to Norway, such as an exemption from the duty to stay at a quarantine hotel.

These countries and areas are known as 'purple countries'. See further information in the box below. Changes have been made to the EU's list of third countries, and the following countries are therefore no longer assessed: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Japan, and Serbia.

The following country is no longer purple:
Australia

These countries and areas will remain purple:
New Zealand, Singapore, Taiwan, and Saudi Arabia.

Travel outside the EEA/Schengen and the UK still not advised
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs still advises against non-essential travel to countries outside the EEA/Schengen area and the UK. There are exemptions for a few areas and countries on the EU's list of third countries, known as purple countries. The travel advice is valid until 1 October 2021.

A text message with be sent to people with a Norwegian mobile phone subscription who are staying in the countries that will be subject to changed entry restrictions upon arrival in Norway.

The process for changes to country assessments
The changes are based on the weekly assessment by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health of areas in the Nordic region, countries, and selected archipelagos in Europe, in addition to selected countries on the EU's list of third countries. The assessments are based on the same threshold values as those applied in the EU.

The assessment this week (an even week) concerns whether the infection rate calls for stricter or lighter entry restrictions and quarantine requirements. The decision means that measures will be lifted for some countries, while travel restrictions and quarantine requirements are introduced for others.

If you travel from a green country but have a layover in a country with stricter quarantine requirements (for example orange, red, or dark red), the entry restrictions of the country you stop in will apply when you arrive in Norway. This means that if you are not a Norwegian citizen and have a layover in a country that is not green, you will not have the right to enter Norway.

New updates every week
The Norwegian Institute of Public Health assesses relevant countries and areas every week. In even weeks, a broad-ranging assessment is made, based on the infection rate, of whether measures will be eased or tightened for the countries and areas. In odd weeks, the only assessment made is whether a country should have stricter rules (for example if it is changed from green to orange or red), based on the infection rate.

Updates to the country assessments are published on regjeringen.no every Friday at about 12 pm, and the changes enter into effect the following Monday at 12 am. The changes will appear in the COVID-19 Regulations and the interactive map on FHI.no.

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