Norway joins the list of countries no longer requiring travelers to quarantine

The Norwegian government has dropped its quarantine requirement as of Jan. 26 following a recommendation from the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.

Prior to ending the quarantine mandate, people visiting Norway from an area that had high COVID-19 infection rates had to quarantine for 10 days if they did not have a valid COVID-19 certificate or had not recovered from the virus. They were only able to end quarantine early if they had a negative COVID-19 test at least three days after arrival.

Currently, visitors who have a COVID-19 vaccination certificate must register online before entering the country and take a COVID test on arrival. Travelers who don't have a certificate must also take a COVID-19 test before departing for Norway. All travelers without a verifiable digital certificate of vaccination linked to the EU's platform (the CDC card is not valid in this case) are required to pretest.

Current COVID-19 situation

The Norwegian Institute of Public Health noted that only 7% of travelers to the country did not have a COVID-19 certificate, and they only represented 4% of the coronavirus cases, so the quarantine rule had little impact on the country's COVID-19 situation or its hospital capacity.

Related: Norway's best experiences for the trip of a lifetime

"I agree with the Norwegian Institute of Public Health that in light of the low proportion of confirmed cases of COVID-19 among arriving travelers without a COVID-19 certificate, compared with the current status of the pandemic in Norway, the time has come to change the travel quarantine requirement," said Minister of Health and Care Services Ingvild Kjerkol. "Removing travel quarantine will help society reopen more quickly, as it will simplify entry into Norway."

"An important reason why I think that we should now remove the requirement of travel quarantine is the need to look at transmission quarantine and travel quarantine as a whole," she added.

More information on current requirements can be found at the website for the Norwegian U.S. Embassy.

COVID-19 Requirements

All visitors over 16 must register no more than 72 hours before entering Norway. After completing the registration, travelers will receive a receipt which must be shown to the police at the border. Visitors that are not vaccinated also need to present a COVID-19 test before arriving. If visitors develop symptoms while in the country, they must get tested and go into isolation if the result comes back positive.

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The Norwegian government plans to assess entry restrictions, including testing requirements at the border, and present its findings in early February. Quarantine may be introduced again if the infection situation changes or if a new virus variant requires stricter measures.

Related: Common mistakes people make when visiting Norway

More information is available from the Norwegian government.

The U.S. State Department's advisory for Norway is Level 4: Do Not Travel and the CDC's advisory for the country is Level 4: Very High Level of COVID-19.