Norway Foreign Affairs Ministry on Friday (Aug 27) announced to extend its global advice against non-essential travel to all countries with the exception of the EU/EEA countries, Switzerland and the UK. Some exceptions to the advice against non-essential travel will continue to apply to certain countries and regions on the EU’s list of epidemiologically safe third countries, i.e. non-EU/EEA countries. The global travel advice will apply until 1 October.
‘The situation has not yet normalised. The spread of infection and local restrictions can change very quickly, which makes the situation unpredictable. Therefore, it is not a good idea to withdraw the global travel advice at this time,’ said Minister of Foreign Affairs Ine Eriksen Søreide.
The Government has decided to rescind the global travel advice in stages. As of 5 July, the travel advice was withdrawn for the EU/EEA, Switzerland and the UK. The travel advice was also withdrawn for certain countries and regions on the EU’s list of epidemiologically safe third countries. These are non-EU/EEA countries and regions that meet the criteria for infection levels set by the Norwegian Institute of Public Health.
The following countries and regions on the EU’s list of safe third countries have been classified as ‘purple’, and are therefore also excepted from the Ministry’s global travel advice: Australia, New Zealand, Saudi Arabia, Singapore and Taiwan. Please note that Albania, Azerbaijan, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, Israel, Japan, Kosovo, Moldova, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Qatar, Serbia, South Korea, Ukraine and the US are also excepted from the travel advice despite the fact that these countries no longer satisfy the Norwegian Institute of Public Health’s criteria for ‘purple’ countries.
